Delhi Capitals will be led by Australia superstar Meg Lanning during the inaugural edition of Women’s Premier League 2023. Here’s a look at their squad members.
Jemimah Rodrigues | India
Right hand batter | Right arm Offbreak
Major Teams
India | Delhi Capitals | Trailblazers | | Supernovas | Melbourne Stars | Melbourne Renegades | Northern Supercharges
Date of Birth – 5 September 2000 | Age – 22 years
Birth place – Mumbai
WT20I career summary
Jemimah Rodrigues is one of the most gifted batters of her generation. Sports runs in her genes with her father being a junior coach where she did her schooling from. A top-order batter, Rodrigues was just 13 when she made the cut for the Maharashtra U-19 cricket team. Besides, she also played hockey and represented her state at the U-17 level.
Rodrigues made a rapid progress from junior to international circuit making her India debut at the age of 17. He first international match was a T20I against South Africa in February 2018 while a month later, she made her ODI bow against Australia. She is a solid batter, capable of playing the role of an anchor and can accelerate at will. Besides her batting skills, Rodrigues is a superb fielder as well. She has played in major T20 leagues across the world including Big Bash League and The Women’s Hundred where she holds the record for the second highest individual score.
Rodrigues is a multi-talented individual who loves music, has quite a presence on social media and recently recorded her first song with actor Aparshakti Khurana.
Meg Lanning | Australia
Right hand batter | Right arm Medium
Major Teams
Australia| Delhi Capitals| Trailblazers | Melbourne Stars | Trent Rockets | Victoria
Date of Birth – 25 March 1992 | Age – 30 years
Birth place – Singapore
WT20I career summary
Meg Lanning is a bona fide superstar and at just 30 years of age, is a seven-time world champion. When she scored a century in what was her second international match, Lanning became the youngest ever Australian (male or female) to achieve the feat. In 2012, she broke the record for the fastest ever hundred – male or female – by an Australian taking just 45 deliveries to do so.
Lanning isn’t just a batting prodigy. She possesses a fine cricket brain as well and at 21 was appointed the Australia captain – becoming the youngest ever to do so. And boy did she justify that by leading her team to four T20 world titles and one ODI world cup triumph. No wonder Delhi Capitals named her as their captain for the inaugural WPL after shelling out Rs 1.1 crore to sign her.
She captained Australia to a world record 26 ODI wins in a row, won Ashes and then led them to a historic CWG gold medal in 2022. There were speculations over her cricket future after she took a long break following the CWG but returned in early 2023 before captaining Australia to a successful T20 World Cup title defence in South Africa.
Shafali Verma | India
Right hand batter | Right arm Offbreak
Major Teams
India | Delhi Capitals| Sydney Sixers| Birmingham Phoenix| Velocity | Haryana
Date of Birth – 28 January 2004| Age – 19 years
Birth place – Haryana
WT20I career summary
Shafali Verma recently turned 19 but it seems that she has been representing India for ages. Why? Because her international debut came when she was just 15.
A top-order batter, Shafali is known for her fearless approach with the bat who in June 2021 became the youngest Indian – male or female – to play all three formats of the game. The highly rated batter famously disguised herself as a boy so as to be able to train in an academy for boys since there were none for girls where she grew up.
Like millions of Indians, Shafali idolises legendary Sachin Tendulkar and her free-spirited strokeplay is often reminds one of Virender Sehwag. Last year, she became the youngest ever to score 1000 runs in women’s T20Is. And in 2023, she led India to a historic title win at the inaugural U-19 Women’s T20 World Cup. At the WPL auction, Delhi Capitals splurged a whopping Rs 2 crore to acquire her services and she was later named as their vice-captain for the inaugural season.
Laura Harris | Australia
Right hand batter
Major Teams
Australia| Delhi Capitals| Trailblazers | Brisbane Heat | Northern Superchargers
Date of Birth – 18, August 1990| Age – 32 years
Birth place – Ipswich
WBBL career summary
Laura Harris is an Australian cricketer who plays as a middle-order batter. Harris took part in various sports growing up including cricket, football and rugby. Despite her love for cricket, she didn’t pursue it as a career and instead became a nurse working in the emergency department of Logan Hospital.
However, she couldn’t stay away from the game for long as she resumed her love affair with cricket and eventually made it to the Big Bash League winning two titles with Brisbane Heat a team she has represented since the tournament got underway in 2015.
Delhi Capitals secured the services of Harris at the inaugural WPL auction after a brief tussle with Royal Challengers Bangalore. They paid Rs 45 lakh for the explosive hitter.
Jasia Akhtar | India
Right hand batter | Right arm Medium
Major Teams
Delhi Capitals| Punjab | Rajasthan
Date of Birth – 27 May 1988| Age – 34 years
Birth place – Shopian
T20 career summary
Jasia Akhtar became the sole female cricketer from Kashmir to have been picked by a franchise at the inaugural Women’s Premier League auction in 2023. Jasia hails from a remote village of Braripora in the militancy-hit Shopian. Her father is a farmer and mother a homemaker and growing up, she went through hardships to keep her dream alive of playing cricket.
Jasia saved her pocket money just to be able to travel to Srinagar to train at the Jammu and Kashmir Cricket Association facility. After moving to Punjab at the age of 18 to further her dream of becoming a pro, Jasia realised how far she’s behind others at her level thanks to the lack of facilities back home.
She worked hard, day and night, and soon represented Punjab before moving to Rajasthan whom she now captains. The 34-year-old Jasla is a top-order batter who was picked by Delhi Capitals for Rs 20 lakh where she will rub shoulders with the likes of Australia superstar Meg Lanning.
Sneha Deepthi | India
Right hand batter | Right arm Offbreak
Major Teams
India | Delhi Capitals| Andhra
Date of Birth – 10 September 19946 | Age – 26 years
Birth place – Vizag
WT20I career summary
Sneha Deepthi shot to fame when she became the youngest T20I debutant for India at 16 years and 204 days before Shafali Verma broke the record. She made her India debut alongside Smriti Mandhana in 2013. Deepthi made a successful return to professional cricket after becoming a mother. She is an aggressive top-order batter who is a fine option to exploit the Powerplay overs.
The love for the game began when she was just eight years old. Deepthi’s father used to train her younger brother at ground and she tagged along with them and used to fetch balls. After a few time, she grew frustrated and it was then her father asked her to bat from thereon, the love blossomed. She represents Andhra at the domestic level.
She has scored a double-century and triple century in district level matches.
Deepthi hopes to make India comeback and what better platform that WPL to realise her dream. At the WPL auction, she was picked by Delhi Capitals at her base price of Rs 30 lakh.
Jess Jonassen | Australia
Role – Left hand Batter | Slow Left arm Orthodox
Major Teams – Australia Women, Delhi Capitals Women, Brisbane Heat Women, Queensland Women
Date of Birth – November 05, 1992 | Age – 30
Birth Place – Emerald, Queensland
Five-time Women’s T20 World Cup champion Jess Jonassen was one of the smartest buys for Delhi Capitals in the WPL Auction for INR 50 Lakh. It was a steal deal for Delhi Capitals as no other franchise made a bid for her. She will be playing under the leadership of her Australian teammate Alyssa Healy as DC will bank on the champion duo to create their magic in the inaugural season of the Women’s Premier League.
Born in Emerald, Queensland, Jonassen made her international debut against New Zealand in 2012 and she soon became a regular in the Australian team. She has been winning matches for the Aussie for more than a decade now with both bat and the ball. The 2023 Women’s T20 WC final against South Africa was her 100th T20I match and it will forever remain a memorable one for her as she lifted the coveted trophy for the fifth time in her illustrious career. In the summit clash, she claimed the crucial wicket of Chloe Tryon to make things easy for the Aussies.
The left-arm spinner is known for putting a brake on the scoring rate in the middle overs and the pitches in India will suit her bowling in spin-friendly conditions.
Shikha Pandey | India
Role – Right Hand Batter | Right Arm Medium Pacer
Major Teams – India Women, Delhi Capitals Women, Goa Women, Velocity, India Green Women
Date of Birth – May 12, 1989 | Age – 33
Birth Place – Ramagundam, Andhra Pradesh (now Telangana)
Experienced India pacer Shikha Pandey was signed by Delhi Capitals for the inaugural season of Women’s Premier League. Pandey, who was part of India’s 2023 Women’s T20 World Cup squad, was bought for INR 60 Lakh. Born in Karimnagar of Andhra Pradesh, (now Telangana), 33-year-old Shikha is the first and only Indian Air Force officer to play cricket for India women’s cricket team.
She has rich experience of playing white-ball cricket with 55 ODIs and 62 T20I matches. The right-arm pacer is known for his swing bowling with the new ball which has troubled many batters in the past. She made a dream debut against Bangladesh on 9 March, 2014 where she bowled an economical spell of 1/14 in her quota of four overs. While she didn’t get a chance to display her batting skills on debut.
Pandey has a decent record in T20Is with the ball 43 wickets in 62 matches at an economic rate of 6.49 but when it comes to batting she lacks the ability to hit big shots as her strike rate is 79.08. She has been in and out of the Indian set-up for the past couple of years but was part of the 2023 T20 WC squad as she also played the semifinal against Australia where India suffered a heartbreaking defeat. Meanwhile, Pandey claimed two wickets in that match.
Marizanne Kapp | South Africa
Role – Right Hand Batter | Right Arm Medium Pacer
Major Teams – South Africa Women, Delhi Capitals Women,Eastern Province Women, Falcons Women, Oval Invincibles (Women), Perth Scorchers, Sydney Sixers
Date of Birth – January 04, 1990 | Age – 33
Birth Place – Port Elizabeth, Cape Province
Seasoned South Africa all-rounder Marizanne Kapp hit the pay dirt in Women’s Premier League 2023 Auction as Delhi Capitals signed him for INR 1.5 crore. The Proteas star recently played in the final of 2023 Women’s T20 World Cup where her team suffered a heartbreaking defeat against Australia. It was quite an emotional game for Kapp as she was seen in tears during the national anthem.
Born in Port Elizabeth, Kapp made her international debut in 2009 in an ICC Women’s ODI World Cup match against Australia. Things didn’t work as planned for her as she was dismissed for just 7 and ended up wicketless. However, she soon became an integral part of the Proteas white-ball set-up as she has played 129 ODIs so far and is close to completing the century in T20Is too with 94 at the moment.
Being a fast-bowling all-rounder, she is a valuable asset for any team in the world. She usually bats at number 4 and has the ability to play as a sixth bowler in the side if required.
In the final against Australia in 2023 T20 WC, she claimed two crucial wickets of Alyssa Healy and Meg Lanning but failed to put up a show with the bat and was dismissed for 7.
In the WPL Auction, several franchises went after her but Delhi Capitals were determined to sign her and they eventually did.
Minnu Mani | India
Role – Left hand Batter | Right arm Offbreak
Major Teams – Kerala Women, Delhi Capitals Women
Date of Birth – March 24, 1999, Age – 23
Birth Place – Hyderabad
Born and bought up in the Wayanad district of Kerala, Minnu Mani’s journey is an inspiration to every girl who is working hard to fulfil their dreams. The Women’s Premier League is expected to bring a revolution in women’s cricket as it is providing chances for players like Mani to play alongside the legends of the game in front of a big crowd. Mani, a tribal girl from the foothills of Mananthavady, started playing cricket at the age of 10.
The 25-year-old is yet to make her India debut but she has been an integral part of the Kerala women’s team and has played for India ‘A’ and India Blue in Challenger Trophy.
She impressed many during the Women’s All-India One-day Tournament where she scored 246 runs from eight matches and also managed to take 12 wickets to display her all-round credentials.
She has all the potential to make it big and the WPL is coming at the right time for her to express herself and showcase her talent in front of many. At Delhi Capitals she will get the opportunity to share the dressing room with star players like Meg Lanning, Shafali Verma, Jemimah Rodrigues and Marizanne Kapp.
Alice Capsey | England
Role – Right Hand Batter | Right arm Offbreak
Major Teams – England Women, Delhi Capitals Women, Melbourne Stars Women, Oval Invincibles (Women), South East Stars, Surrey Women
Date of Birth – August 11, 2004 | Age – 18
Birth Place – Redhill
18-year-old Alice Capsey is touted as the next big thing in England’s women’s cricket and Delhi Capitals signed her for INR 75 lakh, while her base price was INR 30 lakh. Apart from Delhi, Mumbai Indians also displayed a keen interest in signing her but the Capitals with their fifth big sealed the deal. The all-rounder made her debut in July 2022 against South Africa where she picked a wicket with her off-break but didn’t get a chance to showcase her batting skills.
The English management backed the young prodigy and gave her a long run in white-ball cricket as she also made her ODI debut last year in September against England.
Every team looks for a lower-middle order player who can finish the innings with big hits in white-ball cricket and Capsey fits the category well with her T20I strike rate of 132.90 in 15 T20Is which also included a couple of half-centuries. While she can also roll her arms when the captain wants an extra option in the team.
She can turn out to be a smart investment for Delhi Capitals who are known for nourishing young players in IPL with the likes of Prithvi Shaw, Rishabh Pant, Shreyas Iyer (now plays for KKR) and Avesh Khan (now plays for LSG).
Arundhati Reddy | India
Role – Right hand batter | Right Arm Medium Pacer
Major Teams – India Women, Delhi Capitals Women, Hyderabad Women, India Women, Trailblazers, Supernovas
Date of Birth – October 04, 1997, Age – 25
Birth Place – Hyderabad
Delhi Capitals signed out-of-favour medium pacer Arundhati Reddy for INR 30 Lakh for the first edition of Women’s Premier League. It is going to be a crucial season for Reddy who is eyeing to make a comeback into the Indian team as she last played an international match way back in 2021. Reddy also has to impress the DC team management to get a place in the side for the initial matches of WPL 2023. Delhi Capitals have Shikha Pandey and Marizanne Kapp in the side who are expected to start over Reddy in the playing XI.
Born in Hyderabad, Reddy has experience of playing in mega tournaments as she was part of India’s 2018 and 2022 T20 World Cup squads but she failed to cement her place in the side as the emergence of Renuka Singh Thakur put her on the waiting list.
Reddy made her international debut in a T20I against Sri Lanka in September 2018. In her maiden series itself, the medium-pacer impressed everyone with figures of 2-19. The 25-year-old can also bat lower-down the order in crucial situation to save the game for her side.
She travelled last with the Indian team on 2021 England tour where she claimed just one wicket in three matches.
Radha Yadav | India
Role – Right hand batter | Left arm orthodox
Major Teams
India | Baroda | Delhi Capitals | India A | Supernovas| Sydney Sixers | Velocity
Date of Birth – 21 April 2000 | Age – 22 years
Birth place – Mumbai
WT20I career summary
Radha Yadav’s story is an inspiring one, a proper rags to riches tale as she belongs from a very humble family. Radha was born prematurely, in the fourth month, her father used to sell vegetables and their family used to live in a very small house.
Coming from such a background, she has become a regular feature in the Indian team more recently. The 22-year-old was signed by Delhi Capitals for her base price of Rs 40 lakh.
Her tryst with the bat and ball began when Radha played with boys in the compound of a nearby society where her talent was noticed by her coach Prafful Naik. After representing Mumbai and Baroda domestically, she got the chance to make her international bow in a T20I match in February 2018 against South Africa.
In October later that year, Yadav finished as India’s leading wicket-taker at the T20 World Cup 2018, with 8 scalps. Later in 2021, she would go on to cement her place in the Indian team and she also made her ODI and Test debut.
She played for Sydney Sixers in the Women’s Big Bash in 2021, and was also part of the Indian team which won the silver medal in the Commonwealth Games last year. During the recently concluded T20 World Cup, Radha picked up three wickets in four matches, including a two-wicket haul against Pakistan.
Taniya Bhatia | India
Role – Right hand batter | Wicketkeeper
Auction price – ₹ 30 lakh
Major Teams
India | India Green Women | Punjab | Delhi Capitals | Supernovas
Date of Birth – 28 November,1997 | Age – 25 years
Birth place – Chandigarh, Punjab
Indian wicketkeeper batter Taniya Bhatia made her bow for her state team Punjab at just the age of 13, during an inter-state domestic tournament.
A prodigious cricketer in her teens, Bhatia would go on to play for the India A squad at 16, and she made her international bow in a T20I match against South Africa in February 2018.
In 2018, she was named in the list of five breakout stars in women’s cricket by ICC.
While initially Bhatia went unsold in the first round of bidding at WPL 2023 auction, she was later signed by Delhi Capitals for her base price of INR 30 lakh.
She will compete with Aparna Mondal to keep the wickets for the Delhi-based franchise. Bhatia was part of India’s silver-medal winning side at the Commonwealth Games in Birmingham.
Poonam Yadav | India
Role – Right hand batter | Right arm Offbreak
Major Teams
India | Brisbane Heat | Trailblazers | Supernovas | Delhi Capitals
Date of Birth – 24 August 1991 | Age – 31 years
Birth place – Agra, Uttar Pradesh
WT20I career summary
Season Indian spinner Poonam Yadav was picked up by Delhi Capitals for her base price of Rs 30 Lakh as she brings wealth of experience, having played 72 T20I matches, as well as 58 ODIs.
Born in Mainpuri, Uttar Pradesh, she had to shift to Agra to pursue her cricket career, and nearly quit playing professionally before being convinced to continue by her father. After impressing for her state side, Yadav made her international debut in a T20I fixture against Bangladesh in 2014.
Slowly she would become a key figure in the Indian team and in 2018, she reached her career-best T20I ranking, rising to third place. Poonam was India’s leading wicket-taker in the 2018 T20 World Cup, with 8 scalps, and she is India’s second-highest wicket-taker in the shortest format behind Deepti Sharma.
She was also part of the Indian team which reached the final of ICC World Cup in 2017, and the T20 World Cup 2020. The 31-year-old last played for India in March 2022 and will be hoping to mark her comeback to the big stage with some strong performances for DC.
Aparna Mondal
Role – Right hand batter | Wicketkeeper
Major Teams
Bengal | Delhi Capitals | Tamil Nadu | South Zone Women | East Bengal Club | India D
Date of Birth – 6 February 1996 | Age – 27 years
Birth place – North Parganas, Bengal
Aparna Mondal is an Indian wicket-keeper batter who plays for Bengal domestically. The 27-year-old was purchased by Delhi Capitals in the WPL auction for her base price of 10 lakhs, to compete with Taniya Bhatia for a place in the side.
“I was watching the auction with my friend, and suddenly my name was announced, and there had been many big name players who went unsold in the auction so when Delhi Capitals bid for me, we were very happy,” Aparna told DC TV.
Sharing the dressing room with Australian skipper Meg Lanning, Mondal said she’d love to learn more from the Aussie legend.
Tara Norris | USA
Role – Left hand batter | Left arm Medium
Major Teams
USA| Barmy Army Women| Delhi Capitals| Loughborough Lightning| Southern Brave| Southern Vipers| Sussex|
Date of Birth – 4 June 1998 | Age – 24 years
Birth place – Philadelphia
Women’s T20I Stats
Tara Norris, despite her young age has played cricket all around the world. She is the only player from an Associate Nation in the WPL 2023 and was bought by Delhi Capitals for her base price of INR 10 lakh.
Born in USA, she moved to England at a very young age and has been playing since her early teens. Norris has had some good spells with Sussex, finishing as the county side’s second-highest leading wicket-taker in 2019, and in 2021 she was the joint-highest wicket-taker in the Women’s Twenty20 Cup.
She later joined Southern Vipers and was the second highest wicket taker as her side won the Rachael Heyhoe Flint Trophy in 2020 with 12 wickets to her name. She has also played for Loughborough Lightning in the Kia Super League.
The 24-year-old plied her trade previously for Southern Brave in the Hundred although she recently joined North West Thunder.
In October 2021, Norris made her T20I debut with USA, and played five games for her side as they qualified for the 2022 ICC Women’s Twenty20 Qualifier.
Titas Sadhu
Role – Right handed batter | Right arm Medium
Major Teams
India Under-19 | Delhi Capitals | Bengal
Date of Birth – 29 September 2004 | Age – 18 years
Birth place – Chinsura, West Bengal
Having won the Player of the Match in the ICC Under-19 Women’s T20 World Cup final as India trumped England to claim the top prize, Titas Sadhu’s breakthrough moment had arrived. She was signed by Delhi Capitals for Rs 25 lakh after they fought off competition from the UP Warriorz.
Hailing from a family of athletes, she used to be a sprinter like her father, and she was good at swimming too. Titas used to be a score-keeper at a small club called Rajendra Smirti Sangh and from there her journey began.
After facing rejection in a trial for the Bengal team, she was given a chance as the net bowler, before finally getting a breakthrough. The teenager was included in the senior squad at the age of 16. She was her state’s highest wicket taker in CAB’s Women’s T20 tournament last year.
Sadhu made her T20 debut in December 2022 against New Zealand. Titas idolizes Jhulan Goswami, and she finished the U-19 T20 World Cup with six wickets under her belt.
From growing up playing with balls and not dolls like other young girls to winning the POTM award in the final of T20 World Cup, the youngster has come a long way.
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