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Team India and Mumbai Indians` captain Harmanpreet Kaur feels that the upcoming edition of the Women`s Premier League will play a big role in the preparations of the ODI World Cup which the country will host, later this year.
Harmanpreet Kaur also stated that the India U-19 Women`s team has set a new benchmark with their second T20 World Cup title victory.
“This WPL is going to play a very big role because this year we have ODI World Cup. After the WPL, we have a very good window where we can work on our fitness,” Harmanpreet Kaur told the media during Mumbai Indians` pre-season press conference here on Wednesday.
“Our U-19 team is setting a benchmark with back-to-back trophies and it`s a very proud moment for all of us,” she added.
Legendary Team India cricketer Jhulan Goswami and MI`s bowling coach and mentor said that their side has a quality core team for the WPL and domestic players have also been impressive.
“All of them are very quality (players), they have done very well in domestic cricket and they have performed really well. One of them has just now won the U-19 (T20) World Cup, G Kamalini… (and there is) Sanskriti Gupta too,” Goswami said.
“We have a quality core team; we have a few youngsters who have picked it up this season. All of them are very quality (players), equally balanced, they understand their game well and it`s important to have a balanced team,” she added.
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Mumbai Indians head coach Charlotte Edwards said the team will continue to monitor pacer Pooja Vastrakar, who is currently injured.
“Pooja is injured at the moment so we will be making a call on that very, very soon. Clearly, she has been a big player for us for the last couple of seasons but we are monitoring her fitness and hopefully we should be able to announce something really soon,” Edwards said.
Goswami further stated that WPL has changed the perspective of women`s cricket and those who are seen in the league get recognition.
“Most importantly, if you go to domestic cricket, you will see their (players`) mindset, their approach towards the game, it was not there earlier. You will see they (now) want to come and play good brand of cricket, try to impress those scout people to get a chance to play in WPL,” Goswami said.
“It`s (has had) a huge impact. People recognise all those cricketers who have done well in the last three (two) years in WPL. If you go to different parts ¿ I travel with the Bengal team and I know where we never used to get that recognition, now people (have) started to follow, they understand the game, they want to know when the next WPL is, when the next auction is,” she added.
Edwards said the difference can be witnessed even during trials in the off-season.
“(As) someone who is new to Indian cricket, to see the difference from year one to year three now, the calibre of players, as you say, the impact it`s having in the domestic cricket and the quality that`s come through… in the trials recently, when I compare that to year one, it`s on a different level and it`s hugely exciting for Indian cricket,” she said.
“We are seeing year-on-year, this wonderful talent coming through and we have just seen it at the U-19 (T20) World Cup. It`s a very exciting time for India, a bit scary for England,” Edwards added.
The inaugural edition of the WPL was entirely held in only one city, Mumbai. The second edition of the WPL was held in New Delhi and Bengaluru. Jhulan Goswami lauded the league`s management for hosting the WPL 2025 in four venues, Vadodara, Bengaluru, Lucknow and Mumbai.
“The best thing about WPL is going to different places in our country and it will impact local young girls, motivate them, encourage them and that is the ultimate motive of WPL,” she said.
“This season, (I`m) really happy that we are getting a chance to play in front of our fans because last season, we really missed that,” Harmanpreet Kaur said.
(With PTI Inputs)
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