Mandhana, Harmanpreet stress on importance of WPL in women's cricket
What's the story
Indian women's cricket team captain Harmanpreet Kaur and vice-captain Smriti Mandhana have expressed their ambitions for the future, with a special focus on the upcoming T20 World Cup. The duo, who will lead Mumbai Indians and Royal Challengers Bengaluru, respectively, in the opening match of WPL 2026, stressed how this tournament can help maintain India's winning momentum.
Future focus
Mandhana emphasizes WPL's role in achieving cricketing dominance
Mandhana said, "Winning the T20 World Cup would be great." She added that even after winning the ODI World Cup, there are still areas to improve within the team. "We really want to sit back and say, 'yeah we are the best team in the world and world's No. 1 team.' I feel we still have a lot of things to improve on," she added.
Pathway
WPL: A bridge to cricketing excellence
Mandhana believes the Women's Premier League (WPL) will help bridge the gap in their performance over the years. "Whenever we play for India, we always discuss how we want to be the best team in the world not for one tournament or two tournaments, but the whole year - any cricket we play [we want to] dominate it," she said.
Momentum
WPL's role in maintaining momentum post-ODI World Cup win
Mandhana also stressed on how WPL can carry the momentum from India's ODI World Cup win. "It's just been one-and-a-half months [since India won the ODI World Cup] and WPL is going to carry it [the momentum]," she said. She emphasized that domestic players getting to play with international ones is a great experience for women's cricket.
Mindset shift
Harmanpreet highlights WPL's impact on players' mindset
Harmanpreet emphasized how WPL has instilled a "winning mindset" in players. She said, .".. we are not satisfied with just one World Cup." The Indian captain also noted that younger players joining the national side share the same goals as seniors. "It's good to see that not only us, but other players are also coming up and thinking and speaking that we want to be champions all the time," she said.
Preparation
WPL prepares players for high-pressure situations
Harmanpreet also explained how WPL prepares players for high-pressure situations. "Players are not in their comfort zone now. They are working really hard, they are playing against overseas players, they are playing with overseas players," she said. The Indian captain stressed that this exposure is helping them learn a lot from international cricketers and bridging the gap between domestic and international cricket.
Opportunity
WPL opens doors for emerging talent
Mandhana stressed that WPL provides a platform for emerging players to showcase their talent. "It's always exciting to see talent coming up in WPL, so I would never say that the doors are always closed and no one's going to get anything out of this," she said. The vice-captain also hinted at the possibility of an extraordinary performer from WPL getting a chance in the T20 World Cup squad.