WPL 2024: Sloppy Gujarat Giants suffer Harleen Deol injury blow; Bharti Fulmali roped in as replacement
Harleen Deol ruled out: The Gujarat Giants’ Women’s Premier League (WPL) season has gone from bad to worse after star all-rounder Harleen Deol was ruled out of the remainder of the campaign on Thursday (Mar 7).
Deol, who struggled in the three matches she played during the early stage of the WPL 2024 is reported to have injured her knee. Bharti Fulmali, formerly of Trailblazers and a domestic player from Vidarbha has been roped in to replace the injured Deol.
Harleen Deol out of WPL
Deol injured her knee during Giants’ third group-stage match, against UP Warriorz in Bengaluru. Stationed at sweeper cover, Deol raced to her right to intercept a ball in the first over of Warriorz’s innings and immediately clutched her left knee. She limped off the field and has not been seen in action since.
Her returns with the bat haven’t been great and scored 8, 22 and 18 in three matches before going off injured. She adds to the already injured plagued squad of Gujarat Giants who have only one win in five WPL matches so far. Gujarat are already without Kashvee Gautam and Australia’s Lauren Cheatle due to several medical reasons. Sneh Rana has also missed out on the last two outings for unknown reasons, adding more woes to the depleted Gujarat Giants squad.
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Deol’s replacement Bharti Fulmali has international experience and has been capped twice by India. She made her debut in 2019 for India and has been promising in domestic cricket with Vidarbha. However, she will have to now step in to help Gujarat reach the playoffs, where they have a very remote chance.
Gujarat equations of playoff spot
Beth Mooney’s side lost four consecutive matches at the start of the season before registering their first win against Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) on Wednesday. They have two points from five matches and will have to win their next WPL contest against defending champions Mumbai Indians on Saturday (Mar 9). A defeat in that match could see their challenge to make the playoffs suffer heavy dents as RCB currently occupy the third and final spot with six points.
