WPL 2023: Top five spells of inaugural edition

The inaugural edition of the Women’s Premier League has done a remarkable job in popularizing women’s cricket in India. The five-team tournament entertained the fans with breathtaking action through 22 matches spanned across 23 days, and worked as a stepping stone for the bright future of women’s cricket in the country.

The action-packed event featured several international stars and some budding Indian talent as well who rose to the limelight with their marvellous performances. While there were many batters who lit up the competition with their scintillating strokeplay, some bowlers also rose to the occasion and turned matches in their team’s favour with their incredible spells.

As the tournament came to a close with Mumbai winning the historic inaugural edition, let’s take a look at the top five bowling performances in WPL.

Here are the top-five bowling spells of WPL 2023:

5 Sophie Ecclestone 4/13 (3.3 overs) vs Royal Challengers Bangalore

In Match 8 of the tournament between UP Warriorz and Royal Challengers Bangalore, RCB elected to bat first and were cruising at 72/1 after 8 overs when Sophie Ecclestone came in to bowl the ninth over. The left-arm spinner got the prized scalp of Sophie Devine as he cleaned her up. 

After Devine’s wicket, RCB lost two quick wickets and were reduced to 98/4 after 12.2 overs. Ecclestone returned to pick up the wickets of Shreyanka Patil, Renuka Singh and Sahana Pawar to dismiss the Smriti Mandhana-led side for 138 as she finished her spell on 4/13 in 3.3 overs. 

In reply, UP chased down the target in 13 overs as Alyssa Healy scored an unbeaten 96 off 47 balls.