For Sushma, this marks a return to top-flight cricket. She was last in the national team at the T20I tri-series in South Africa in 2023 but didn’t get a game. Her only franchise experience so far has been the 2023 WPL with Gujarat Giants, when she scored 42 runs in five innings at a strike rate of 79.24.
Of late, she has worked on her hitting skills. In the 2025-26 domestic one-day tournament, she hit the third-highest number of sixes: nine in six innings.
“It’s special to be part of the WCPL and I am grateful to the Knight Riders set-up for this opportunity,” Sushma told Cricinfo. “I feel it is the fruit of the hard work I have put into my T20 game.”
Sushma will be the sixth Indian to be part of WCPL 2026. Apart from her and Bhatia, Shikha Pandey is also with TKR, while Kiran Navgire, Pooja Vastrakar and Harleen Deol are with Barbados Tridents.
TKR have already secured direct qualification for the final after topping the four-team league stage. The second finalist will be decided via the playoff between Tridents and Guyana Amazon Warriors, with title match to be played on September 17 in Bridgetown.