Young off-spinner Shreyanka Patil has been signed by the Guyana Amazon Warriors as she became the first Indian to play in the Women's Caribbean Premier League (WCPL) which will be held from August 31-September 10.
Indian women cricketers are allowed by the BCCI to play in overseas leagues with top players like skipper Harmanpreet Kaur, Smriti Mandhana, Jemima Rodrigues, Shafali Verma, Deepti Sharma and Richa Ghosh have at some point in time played in the WBBL in Australia and The Hundred in England.
However, Shreyanka, who made a name for herself in the Women's Premier League for RCB, will be the first woman player who has been offered a contract in an overseas league even before making her senior international debut.
She was recently named player of the tournament at the Women's Emerging Asia Cup in Hong Kong where she took nine wickets in two completed games for India A.
The 2023 season of WCPL will see an expanded schedule with seven matches to be played in 11 days.
The three teams competing in the 2023 season will be the Barbados Royals, Guyana Amazon Warriors and the Trinbago Knight Riders. The star-studded squads feature the best players from across the Caribbean, including Deandra Dottin, Hayley Matthews and Stafanie Taylor.
There will also be overseas players from Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, Ireland and India with some of the best international cricketers appearing in an expanded WCPL.
New Zealanders Sophie Devine, Suzie Bates and Fran Jonas will be playing at the 2023 WCPL. They will be joined by Australians Laura Harris and Amanda-Jade Wellington. South Africans Dane van Niekerk, Mignon de Preez and Shabnim Ismail will also be at the 2023 event.