"I am surprised with both Alyssa Healy and Beth Mooney" - Veda Krishnamurthy on the WPL 2023 captains

Veda Krishnamurthy has expressed surprise over Alyssa Healy and Beth Mooney's appointments as captains of their respective franchises in WPL 2023.

Harmanpreet Kaur and Smriti Mandhana have been expectedly named as the skippers of the Mumbai Indians (MI) and the Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) respectively. The Delhi Capitals (DC), the Gujarat Giants and the UP Warriorz opted to go with overseas captains, with Meg Lanning, Beth Mooney and Alyssa Healy leading the respective franchises.

On the "AakashVani" show on JioCinema, Aakash Chopra asked Veda Krishnamurthy if she was surprised by any of the overseas captain picks for WPL 2023, to which she responded:

"Meg Lanning is not surprising. We had obviously expected that the team might be built around her. But I am surprised with both Alyssa Healy and Beth Mooney. We felt Deepti Sharma might be the captain for the UP Warriorz."

While acknowledging that the Gujarat Giants were expected to have an overseas captain, the Karnataka player was surprised that Mooney got the vote ahead of Ashleigh Gardner, explaining:

"When the auction ended, we knew for a fact that the Gujarat Giants were more focused on overseas and didn't go for an Indian captain. So it was expected that they will have an overseas captain but it was slightly surprising that it is Beth Mooney because the build-up was around Ash Gardner."

Veda added that she would have ideally preferred all five franchises to have an Indian captain and that the international players could have guided them. She reasoned that the Indians are the ones who have to take the team forward and that communication could be an issue with overseas captains.

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Veda Krishnamurthy picks her top 5 all-rounders for WPL 2023

Nat Sciver-Brunt (L) and Ashleigh Gardner were the most expensive overseas picks in the WPL 2023 auction.

Veda Krishnamurthy was further asked to pick the top five all-rounders in WPL 2023, to which she replied:

"Ash Gardner, Nat Sciver-Brunt, Marizanne Kapp, Ellyse Perry and Amelia Kerr. I am talking about overseas. Deepti Sharma is the only Indian all-rounder in that league at the moment, who can bowl four overs and can bat anywhere."

The middle-order batter also named a few Indian players who are primarily bowling all-rounders at the moment, saying:

"There are quite a few bowling all-rounders like Pooja Vastrakar and Sneh Rana. We are seeing Devika Vaidya also as a bowling all-rounder although she has that skill to be a proper all-rounder, who can give you that four overs and bat anywhere in the top five. But I think it's still early days, she is just making a comeback."

Veda concluded by picking RCB, MI and DC as the top three WPL 2023 title contenders, with Smriti Mandhana's side as the likely champions. She predicted Sophie Ecclestone to be the highest wicket-taker and either Mandhana or Mooney to be the top run-getter.