"WPL will play big role in India's preparations for ODI World Cup", Harmanpreet

Team India and Mumbai Indians captain Harmanpreet Kaur feels that the upcoming edition of the Womens Premier League will play a big role in the preparations of the ODI World Cup which the country will host later this yearHarmanpreet Kaur also stated that the India U19 Womens team has set a new benchmark with their second T20 World Cup title victoryThis 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 preseason press conference here on WednesdayOur U19 team is setting a benchmark with backtoback trophies and its a very proud moment for all of us she addedLegendary Team India cricketer Jhulan Goswami and MIs bowling coach and mentor said that their side has a quality core team for the WPL and domestic players have also been impressiveAll 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 U19 T20 World Cup G Kamalini and there is Sanskriti Gupta too Goswami saidWe 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 its important to have a balanced team she addedAlso ReadChampions Trophy 2025 Will Australia play without these two starsMumbai Indians head coach Charlotte Edwards said the team will continue to monitor pacer Pooja Vastrakar who is currently injuredPooja 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 saidGoswami further stated that WPL has changed the perspective of womens cricket and those who are seen in the league get recognitionMost 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 saidIts 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 iquest 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 addedEdwards said the difference can be witnessed even during trials in the offseasonAs 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 its having in the domestic cricket and the quality thats come through in the trials recently when I compare that to year one its on a different level and its hugely exciting for Indian cricket she saidWe are seeing yearonyear this wonderful talent coming through and we have just seen it at the U19 T20 World Cup Its a very exciting time for India a bit scary for England Edwards addedThe 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 leagues management for hosting the WPL 2025 in four venues Vadodara Bengaluru Lucknow and MumbaiThe 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 saidThis season Im really happy that we are getting a chance to play in front of our fans because last season we really missed that Harmanpreet Kaur saidWith PTI Inputs