Harleen Deol

Harleen Deol made a name for herself as an attacking top-order batter who could contribute with the ball. Following a couple of good seasons in domestic cricket, she was called up to the India A squad for the home series against England in 2019, and an injury to Harmanpreet Kaur got her an ODI debut. However, she had to wait for another three years for her next ODI.

Deol showed what she has in the Women's T20 Challenge, with her strokeplay for Trailblazers grabbing headlines. She made her T20I debut also in 2019. But the first few years of her international career were characterised by a lack of role clarity and mixed returns, and she was shunted up and down the batting order.

On India's tour of England in 2021, Deol got observers to sit up and take notice for a stunning boundary catch, one that became viral piece on social media: she leapt high at the long-off boundary after running to her left, threw the ball in the air as she lost balance and fell outside the boundary line, jumped back in and put in another dive to catch the ball and dismiss Amy Jones.

It was not until late 2024 that Deol became a regular in India's ODI set-up. She has made the No. 3 spot her own and also scored her maiden international century - in an ODI against West Indies in Vadodara. The same cannot be said of her spot in India's T20I squad. While she had been around the periphery of the national side, she was left out of the T20I side in mid-2023 and only made a comeback two years later on the tour of England.

Deol was picked by Gujarat Giants in the WPL at her base price of INR 40 lakh.