Franchise cricket keeps you in the game: Pandey

For a team looking to right the wrongs of the past three years, banking upon Shikha Pandey’s experience will be key for new-look UP Warriorz in the upcoming edition of the Women’s Premier League.

- Samreen Razzaqui

It didn’t matter to Abhishek Nayar and Co that Pandey hadn't played a T20I for India since February 2023. That she still remains the top-wicket taker among Indian pace bowlers in the last three seasons of the WPL — 30 wickets in 27 matches at an economy of 6.96 — spoke enough about her quality.

Her numbers and consistency at WPL and at the domestic level were bound to attract bids at the auction but very few expected her to be the third most expensive buy at the auction at ₹2.4 crore. “I expected teams to bid for me but I didn’t expect it to be that high. I'm not someone who thinks too much about these things. Iwas just happy to be valued,” Pandey told HT.