New Delhi, Sep 28 (IANS) Facing a dry run of four seasons without making a significant mark in the Women’s Premier League (WPL), UP Warriorz (UPW) head coach Abhishek Nayar has said a thorough tactical overhaul was necessary to assemble a high-intensity batting order capable of matching the tournament’s evolving 200-plus scoring standards.
UPW, who finished at the bottom of the WPL 2026 points table, executed a sweeping squad cleanup on the retention deadline day by parting ways with international players Deandra Dottin, Chloe Tryon, and Amy Jones, alongside domestic names like Kiran Navgire, Shweta Sehrawat, and India leg-spinner Asha Sobhana.
“At the end of the season, when our coaches had a meeting, and even recently the coaches had a meeting at the end, we kind of gave a lot of the players certain things to work on and felt we wanted to assess how they go from there. In that, Asha was one of the players that we felt had obviously taken a lot of positive strides.
“So, it was sort of a hard decision for us. But we just felt coming into this auction, I felt when you take over for the first time, you try and understand the process of a franchise and what has gone on in the system.
“You always want to rely on the good before you can look at the bad, and I think having been here for one year, we felt sometimes a bit of a change is not a bad thing. So, we are taking kind of a punt in a lot of ways to try and see if we can change how we formulated the team last year and see if a different combination can give us better results,” Nayar told Star Sports on the retention deadline show on Monday.
Despite the exits, the franchise has retained an 11-member core that features premier overseas stars in captain Meg Lanning, Phoebe Litchfield, Sophie Ecclestone, and Tara Norris. The retained Indian contingent is headlined by star all-rounder Deepti Sharma, alongside Harleen Deol, Shikha Pandey, Kranti Gaud, Pratika Rawal, Shipra Giri, and Simran Shaikh.
Explaining the shift in women’s T20 batting dynamics, Nayar acknowledged that relying on older scoring benchmarks left the side under-resourced against opposition teams regularly breaching the 200-run barrier.
“I’ve always believed in being quite honest. I think one of the things at the end of the season, when we were thinking, and I was thinking about it a lot, I always felt that as a team, when we picked a side, sometimes players click or they don’t.
“But somewhere I felt WPL took a step and a notch up last year. In the past, teams were reaching 200 more frequently than years before that. So when you rely on data, sometimes it can deceive you because 170-160 was a power score, and the team we sort of built was a team that could achieve that, we felt. But every time a team surpassed that 200-mark, it became really hard for us.
“We didn’t have the firepower, and it’s still going to be hard in this auction. An auction doesn’t mean things are going to be changed. The things that are going to change are because we have money. But trying to become a team that can score 200 means a lot of the players in the current setup will also have to change their styles of play and will have to adapt and play the current form of T20 cricket, and that’s the only way we turn things around this time around,” he explained.
Nayar outlined that releasing key names allowed UP Warriorz to enter the auction table with a purse of Rs 3.65 crore, the largest purse among all five franchises, to target explosive match-winners with the bat. “The idea is to have enough money so that we can identify players in the auction that we felt we didn’t do last time around, who could actually make an impact and help us achieve, say, a 171-75 to 200 with the bat.”
Touching upon individual retention decisions, Nayar backed India batter Pratika Rawal and experienced campaigner Harleen Deol, while extending warm wishes to long-serving players Kiran Navgire and Shweta Sehrawat, who have been with UPW since the tournament’s inception in 2023.
“See, we haven’t seen Pratika a lot in T20 cricket, but she obviously has the potential to do something special. She’s just been included in the India T20 side. So, hopefully, we get some time to work with her. With Harleen, I think part of the thought process was: a lot of times you look at what is out there and what you have, and whether you feel there is someone out there who can give you more than what Harleen has been giving us.
“Having said that, she won us a game against Mumbai Indians last year. She had that potential, and I feel it’s about her unlocking that in her mind and believing that she can keep playing to that tempo. We feel if that happens, then the best of Harleen Deol is in front of her.
“With Kiran and Shweta, they have been with us for four years and have been terrific in the dressing room. But sometimes a bit of a change is good, even for the cricketer and even for the franchise. So, they’ve been terrific while they were with us. They gave their best.
“It was never that they never tried hard, but sometimes, like I always say, when things don’t work out in one franchise, maybe they do in another. So, it’s just one of those things. But they are good players. We’re looking for a change in the set-up,” he explained.
Addressing the release of Deandra, Nayar revealed that her recent dip in form with the bat forced the management’s hand despite their mutual fondness. “It’s been hard because when we picked her, I’d followed her for a couple of years. Luckily, I saw her in CPL when I was there with the men’s team, and I truly enjoyed watching the character behind it.
“I feel she had a lull last year, but her batting has gone downhill, and we really wanted someone who could give a lot with the bat. As I said, the emphasis was on someone who can play with that 130-140 strike rate, take the game away, something she did a lot. But I feel in the last year, she hasn’t been at her best.
“Having said that, because we’ve had such a poor season last season, sometimes you sit back and think whether you want to back someone who is not doing well even over a period of a year. That’s the pressure that you’re under in franchise cricket, unfortunately.
“As much as we would love to have all of them back and play with the same team, if we had qualified in a good season, then those releases would have been fewer. But because it’s been four years of us not playing good cricket, and I had this last one year understand it, we just feel like moving in a different direction, and what’s the worst that can happen?” he said.
Nayar concluded by reiterating that captain Meg Lanning and Deepti were central to all retention discussions. “I’ve always believed when we go into an auction, the skipper is someone who I really rely a lot on. I’ve noticed that with Meg now having one season in the WPL and understanding our culture, even in this whole retention process, she’s been an integral part, and we’ve had a lot of conversations with her and the support group.
“Deepti is also the same, and for me, it’s about having enough conversations with each player, identifying their role before the season and creating that flexibility in the mindset of the player so that, as a team, we can achieve whatever success we have to, because eventually, no matter who we pick in the auction, this is still the core of the team.
“If Deepti Sharma fires, Meg Lanning fires, Phoebe fires, we still go a long way. So for me, the hopes are not so much in the auction. Yes, we get added players, but the hope is that the current squad and players that we have are good enough to take us through,” he concluded.
–IANS
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