Yastika Bhatia officially ruled out of WPL 2026

Yastika Bhatia, the Gujarat Giants' wicketkeeper-batter, will miss the 2026 season of the Women's Premier League, the franchise officially announced on January 10. Cricbuzz had earlier reported that she had the ACL surgery in October last year. As a result, her availability for the tournament was always under question. She has, however, joined the team in Navi Mumbai to watch their games from the stands.

"Hope you are going well and hope the recovery is going well for you," Giants' coach Michael Klinger said. "Cannot wait to see you back fit and strong and be part of the Gujarat Giants in WPL season 5."

The BCCI had informed all franchises of her unavailability before the auctions, as a result of which Giants won't be allowed a replacement player. Despite the information, Gujarat Giants and UP Warriorz placed their bids for her after she was released by Mumbai Indians. She was eventually snapped by Giants for INR 50 lac.

She joins a long list of Indian players who would be unavailable this season - or for a good part of this season. UP Warriorz's Pratika Rawal is yet another player whose availability was under question, but she found a bidder. Meanwhile, RCB's Pooja Vastrakar, who was recovering from a shoulder injury at the CoE, injured her hamstring and has been ruled out for at least two weeks of the tournament.

Across the first three seasons, Bhatia enjoyed a prolific run with Mumbai Indians, scoring 506 runs in 28 matches at a strike rate of 113.45. She formed one of the most destructive opening partnerships in the competition, in the company of Hayley Matthews, and became a two-time winner of WPL.