Why is Pooja Vastrakar not playing today’s WPL 2023 match between UP Warriorz and Mumbai Indians?

During the tenth match of the ongoing inaugural season of Women’s Premier League between Mumbai Indians Women and UP Warriorz at the Brabourne Stadium in Mumbai, UP warriors captain Alyssa Healy has won the toss and opted to bat first.

“We are going to have a bat. The teams have put up big totals, if we can do that, we will be able to restrict them,” remarked Healy post winning the Toss.

The only unbeaten team so far in WPL 2023, Harmanpreet Kaur-led Mumbai Indians Women would be looking for their fourth win on the trot tonight, and with it place one foot inside the playoffs door. They are the one team which has looked nearly clinical in all three facets of the game in a tournament where a star-studded Royal Challengers Bangalore side is yet to get off the mark, and in fact have found themselves in precarious situation in the playoff qualification race.

The UP Warriorz, on the other hand, have fared quite well in the tournament so far as well with a couple of wins in the first three games. Leading from the front is their skipper Alyssa Healy, who presently averages 63.50 across three innings, and is their leading run-scorer.

Why is Pooja Vastrakar not playing today’s WPL 2023 match

Mumbai Indians Women’s capped Indian allrounder Pooja Vastrakar has been dropped from the playing XI in tonight’s fixture, due to an injury she had  picked during their previous match against the Delhi Capitals Women, as confirmed by Harmanpreet at the Toss. She has been replaced by uncapped Indian Southpaw batter from Bengal – Dhara Gujjar.

“We are looking for a good game. Pooja Vastrakar injured herself in the last game. Dhara Gujjar replaces her. 160 will be a good total, hopefully we can restrict them under 150-160,” Harmanpreet said at the Toss.

Dhara was the leading run-scorer  for Bengal in the Senior Women’s T20 Trophy, and had impressed the think tank during MI Women’s intra-squad warm-up matches as well.