'WPL will provide me a chance to look at young talent from close quarters'

The exposure that she got while playing Women's Big Bash League (WBBL) and 'The Hundred' has helped her immensely in terms of cricketing growth and Indian skipper Harmanpreet Kaur is confident that home-bred talent would find Women's Premier League equally beneficial.

The five-team Women's Premier League will finally see the light of the day when Gujarat Giants will take on Harmanpreet-led Mumbai Indian in the opener on Saturday at the DY Patil Stadium in Navi Mumbai.

Harmanpreet feels rubbing shoulders against the best of women's cricket in the world in the WPL will do wonders for the confidence of young domestic players. 

"The WPL is great platform to know overseas players, take something from their experience. The amount of experience and confidence I got playing in WBBL and The Hundred, I want the young Indian domestic players to get such," the newly appointed MI women's team skipper told media during a virtual interaction.

"It is a great opportunity for them to spend time with overseas players. The WPL will also personally provide me a chance to have a look at some young talent from close quarters," Harmanpreet added.

The dashing batter is pretty sure that a lot of great talent will be unearthed during WPL.

"I think this (WPL) is great platform for all Indian players. We have been missing this tournament for a long time. In Australia the WBBL, and The Hundred in England has produced so so many hidden talent.

"After the WPL, we are definitely going to get some great talents," she said. 

Harmanpreet wants to take everyone together while leading MI to their maiden WPL title.   

"For me, it is very important to be supporting each and every member and give chances to everyone. Give them equal responsibility and respect. For us it is a great platform to perform, keep enjoying and backing each other," she said.

Asked if she would feel the pressure of donning the MI jersey while captaining the side, the right-handed batter replied: "Not at all, we are here to play cricket, keep doing things which we enjoy and express myself."

"The moment I joined MI the atmosphere, was totally different, first time I am experiencing this ... this is something we were waiting for a long time." 

Edwards expects "massive impact"

MI women's team head coach Charlotte Edwards echoed similar sentiments, and said the WPL is going to have "massive impact" on Indian cricket.              

"The Hundred is really special for women's cricket. I expect WPL is only going to be bigger. It is massive for India cricket, make the Indian team stronger for couple of years," the former English cricketer said.

"It is going to carve out unbelievable talent. The tournament is going to make  India a powerhouse of women's cricket for the next few years."

Head coach Edwards said they can't wait to take the field on Saturday.

"We had a brilliant first week. We played a couple of warm up games, young Indian talent looks exciting. Internationals have come in the last few days and we can’t just wait to get started," she said.

"We have a very good coaching team. We had a good 10 days together. I feel really ready and the players are ready to go.

"We will focus more on team than individuals. They are very clear what their roles are going to be."