On the eve of the tournament opener between Mumbai Indians Women and Royal Challengers Bengaluru, Smriti Mandhana has said that the WPL will play a massive role if India are to lift the T20 World Cup later
this year in the England. The Women's T20 World Cup is set to be played from June 12 to July 5 this year and India Women have never won a trophy in the shortest format. Senior Indian players and captains of their respective WPL teams, Smriti Mandhana and Harmanpreeet Kaur have their eyes set on the bigger picture which is the T20 World Cup in 2026.
Speaking ahead of the start of WPL, Royal Challengers Bengaluru captain Smriti Mandhana said "Winning the T20 World Cup would be great. We won the ODI World Cup but there are a lot of things in the team we need to work on. 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. I'm sure WPL is going to bridge that gap for us in the coming years.”
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Mumbai Indians captain, Harmanpreet Kaur also was of the same view stating that they are not just satisfied with one World Cup and are willing to win more. On the eve of the WPL, Kaur said "We are not satisfied with just one World Cup. We have so much cricket coming up this year and in the next two-three years, so every time we go to the field we want to go with the best mindset and that winning mindset we have been always talking about. 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. I think that shows how WPL has made a lot of impact on us,"
With the Women’s T20 World Cup scheduled this year in England, Smriti Mandhana also said that WPL can offer opportunities for players who are currently out of the Indian squad to stake their claim. She noted that performers can be rewarded with a call up. WPL starts on January 9 with Royal Challengers Bengaluru taking on Mumbai Indians.
