Harmanpreet Kaur was ecstatic at her team Mumbai Indians winning the maiden edition of the WPL as they knocked over the swashbuckling Delhi Capitals in the grand finale to lift the hallowed silverware. She was the leader of the Women in Blue as they rolled over almost all other teams in the tournament to emerge victorious.
Hayley Matthews set the tone of the match with a three-fer that left Delhi reeling while Issy Wong bagged a hat-trick to hammer the Capitals from inside out. Chasing a modest total, it was Nat Sciver-Brunt who would smash a brilliant and unbeaten 60 while Harmanpreet Kaur would score a calculative 37 to lead the show for the champions.
Talking in the post-match conference, Kaur said, “I was waiting for such a moment for a long time… when as a captain I can win something which is so important for women’s cricket. I want to keep doing this in future also. I was waiting for a long time to win a tournament on a good platform. Whatever I have learnt from this tournament I want to share the experience with my Indian team mates.”
This is what Harmanpreet Kaur had to say about the game
She further added, “Both the run-outs were disappointing. Today it was different because Nat was there. She was already well settled and knew who is going to bowl and how they were bowling. Amelia is always there for the team and she was in good touch. Apart from them Pooja Vastrakar and Issy Wong were there. We were positive and knew we would finish the game one or two overs before. But after I got out, we thought we should go by how the situation is.”
The Indian captain continued, “At this level it’s about learning how to keep calm and handle the pressure and do well for the team,” Harmanpreet said. “Otherwise in terms of skills everyone works hard. Fitness also they are doing so well. It’s about how mentally strong you are and how you can do on the field. These are the things domestic players need to learn from international.”
Harmanpreet Kaur shares an anecdote about her bond with the Indian players
Talking about her bond with the Indian players, she said, “I was actually very happy the way they were batting. I always told Radha, you don’t need to take singles because singles jiska kaam hai woh le lega (leave strike rotation to someone else). I was actually happy when she hit those sixes at the end. Even after the match I spoke to her and said I want to see the same batting when you join the Indian team.” She also shed some light about her rivalry with Meg Lanning, stating, “We’ve seen Lanning do well for her country for so many years but it was different here,” she said. “For me it was important to get everyone together and make them understand why they are here and what they can do best for the team. Everybody was so mature. It didn’t come across even once that they didn’t understand what we were talking.”
