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New Delhi: The Women's Premier League (WPL) is set to begin on January 9 with the opening clash between the Mumbai Indians (MI) and Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) at the DY Patil Stadium in Navi Mumbai.
MI and India captain, Harmanpreet Kaur, credited the WPL and her franchise in helping her to develop a winning mindset, which she made good use of while leading the national team to the women’s ODI World Cup title.
The two-time WPL-winning captain said that she believes that if a player goes with a winning mindset in every match, that can bring a lot of things to you and to the country.
"WPL made a lot of changes in me, especially thinking because before that, some limitations were there but when I came here and worked with MI," Harmanpreet said in a press conference organised by Mumbai Indians.
She further added that MI have been winning IPL titles for so many years and that winning mindset came to her when she was sitting with them, as they always think about beating the opponents to win the title.
Lisa Keightley, the new coach of the Mumbai Indians, praised the WPL and said that the Indian international players are getting brilliant competitions to lead into international cricket in World Cups.
"We've seen the result of that through India winning the last 50-over World Cup when they're under pressure in the semi-final to win that match, and then go on and win the final," Keightley said.
She further added that the ODI World Cup triumph was big for the country, and also big for players like Harman, who have played for many years.
"I think that's a result of WPL in the last three years and we're seeing the reward when they go away to international competitions," she said.
Keightley replaced Charlotte Edwards, who quit her role to become the England women’s team head coach, and said that it's her first job in Mumbai, and it's a very special city for her because whenever she gets a chance to play here, she always gets to see positive results.
"I am sure this season is also going to be very special. I am really happy that last season and last year turned out to be very good overall for women's cricket. I hope this year also starts the same way," she added.
MI WPL 2026 squad: G Kamalini (wk), Hayley Matthews, Nat Sciver-Brunt, Harmanpreet Kaur (capt), Amelia Kerr, Amanjot Kaur, Poonam Khemnar, S Sajana, Sanskriti Gupta, Shabnim Ismail, Saika Ishaque, Rahila Firdous, Nicola Carey, Triveni Vasistha, Kranthi Reddy, Milly Illingworth.
