MI skipper Harmanpreet Kaur says Women’s Premier League will help prepare better for showpiece in India; excited to work on fitness before ICC event
MI mentor Jhulan Goswami (left), head coach Charlotte Edwards and skipper Harmanpreet Kaur (right) at a city hotel yesterday. Pic/Satej Shinde
Mumbai Indians [MI] captain Harmanpreet Kaur recalled her city days and the importance of time management that she learned and benefited from. Harmanpreet led MI to win the inaugural WPL in 2023 and now aims to regain the trophy in the third edition starting on February 14 in Baroda.
Long history with Mumbai
“One thing I learnt when I was living here [in Mumbai] and working for Railways was people don’t like to waste their time. Cricket-wise as well, a lot of my good performances have happened in Mumbai. And then being picked by MI, it couldn’t have been better. “I have won a lot of trophies in Mumbai. [I’m] really happy that we are getting a chance to play in front of our MI Paltan. We really missed them last year,” said Harmanpreet during a press conference on Wednesday.
MI’s first game on Feb 15
MI are set to play their first game against Delhi Capitals in Baroda on February 15. Bangalore, Lucknow and Mumbai will also be hosting WPL games this year. Harmanpreet, who is also shouldering the responsibility of India skipper, reckoned the upcoming WPL will help the hosts prepare better for the ODI World Cup later this year.
“This WPL is going to play a very big role because this year we have the ODI World Cup. After the WPL, we have a very good window where we can work on our fitness,” she remarked. Former India captain, MI’s mentor and bowling coach Jhulan Goswami echoed her captain on MI team’s combinations. She said: “We have a quality core team. We have a few youngsters who have picked it up this season. All of them are high quality [players], equally balanced, understand their game well. It’s important to have a balanced team.”
Vastrakar unavailable
MI will miss the services of experienced India all-rounder Pooja Vastrakar in the initial few games. Head coach Charlotte Edwards said the team will monitor her progress. “Pooja is injured [knee injury] 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.
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