Mumbai (Maharashtra) [India], January 8 : Ahead of defending champions Mumbai Indians (MI) Women's Premier League (WPL) tournament opener against Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB), India's World Cup-winning skipper Harmanpreet Kaur said that the Women in Blue are not satisfied with their maiden World Cup win last year and the franchise league competition has helped them set "bigger goals".
It will be a clash of India's World Cup-winning captain, Harmanpreet, and vice-captain Smriti as two-time champion MI takes on 2024 champions RCB in the WPL season four opener on Friday at Navi Mumbai's DY Patil Stadium.
Speaking during the pre-match presser, Harmanpreet said that the team is not satisfied with barely breaking their World Cup drought last year and looks forward to cricket coming to them over the next two to three years, especially the T20 World Cup this this from June to July and the ICC Women's Champions Trophy's inaugural edition coming a year after.
"We are not satisfied with this one World Cup, we have so much cricket coming up this year, in the next two to three years. So every time we get on the field, we want to go with the best mindset and a winning mindset that we have always talked about. There are players coming up and thinking, speaking about them wanting to be the champion all the time. WPL has had a lot of impact on us. Players are not in their comfort zone anymore, are working really hard, getting to play against and with international-level stars," he said.
"I think the upcoming players are learning a lot from them, and the gap which existed between other international cricket and ours while emerging into international cricket is not there anymore. So I think WPL has an impact on a lot of our cricket, and I feel really happy for the team. We are setting bigger goals for us, and hopefully we will keep working on that and improve as a team," he added.
Smriti, the RCB skipper also agreed, saying that winning the T20 World Cup this year in England and Wales would be great.
"We won the World Cup, but we still have a lot of work to do as a team. We really want to sit back and say that, yeah, we are the best team in the world, and world number one team in the world, and I think we still have a lot of things to improve on, and I am sure WPL is going to bridge that gap for us, and in the coming years, we want to do that. 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 and dominate it, and I think every WPA is just getting us closer to that," she concluded.