WPL 2025: Blow For UP Warriorz as Captain Alyssa Healy Will Miss Women's Premier League Season 3 With Injury

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UP Warriorz dealt a blow just a few weeks before the Women's Premier League (WPL) season 3 after it was cofirmed that skipper Alyssa Healy will miss the upcoming season due to injury.

The third edition of the WPL is scheduled to be held across four venues in Vadodara, Lucknow, Bengaluru and Mumbai from February 14 to March 15, 2025. But UP Warriorz will need to make a replacement signing in the coming days.

Healy, who led the UP Warriorz in the first two seasons of the franchise tournament, confirmed her decision following Australia's emphatic win in the one-off Test against England at the Melbourne Cricket Ground on Saturday (February 1).

The Australian captain had not kept wickets during the one-off Test and the ODI series, having missed the T20 series as well as more games before that, is now set to miss WPL 2025 due to a stress injury to her right foot.

The wicketkeeper-batter has been plagued by a recurring foot injury which flared up during the T20 World Cup in the United Arab Emirates last year, and the following India's ODI tour Down Under in December.

After the Women's Ashes victory, Healy revealed that she will miss action for the next few months, aiming to be available for the ODI World Cup in India later this year, but the skipper was non commital about her future beyond the show-piece tournament.

"Unfortunately for me, I've got a couple of months feet up," she said after the series win. "I'm pretty bummed by that, but at the same time elated to have a little bit of downtime and try and get my body right. But I'm looking forward to sticking my feet in an ice bucket."

"You get yourself right back playing and something else goes wrong. So (I am) just going to have a look at a couple of things and how I can be better, maybe a bit more disciplined in some areas, and make sure I'm right to go in particular for that ODI World Cup," said Healy.

"It's going to be a huge load coming off not a lot of cricket for a lot of the girls in the winter. So just managing things to get right for that. But I'm looking forward to sticking my feet in an ice bucket for a bit," she added.

Healy becomes the second high-profile withdrawal from the 2025 WPL after New Zealand all-rounder Sophie Devine, who was retained by the defending WPL champions Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB), announced her unavailability due to a break from the game.

UP Warriorz will announce the replacement for Healy soon, but they are likely to use Uma Chetry as the wicketkeeper with Indian all-rounder Deepti Sharma likely to take over the captaincy for the season. The Warriorz also have Healy's compatriot Tahlia McGrath in their ranks as a possible captain.