India T20I captain Harmanpreet Kaur called for the women’s Indian Premier League again, saying the difference in experience showed as Australia won the closely-fought second Twenty20 International on the back of Tahlia McGrath’s superb knock.
Playing her first T20I innings in officially her second matcj, the all-rounder scored an unbeaten 42 off 33 to guide Australia home in the last over of a low-scoring thriller. And Harmanpreet Kaur said that it was her experience of playing similar matches in the Women’s Big Bash League that proved to be an advantage in a battle of nerves.
“The reason the Australian team is doing really well is that whole season they get very good cricket. If you saw today the way McGrath batted, we can see that they are getting so much confidence because of the competition at WBBL. They are ready to play international cricket,” Harmanpreet said at the post-match press conference.
The captain contrasted it how India’s domestic circuit doesn’t quite take players up until international-ready status.
“We do have a few players who have not played as much cricket at a top level and don’t have that experience. Like Renuka Thakur, she has done very well at the domestic level but still she doesn’t have that much experience [at the highest level]. Yet she has done well in the first two overs,” she added.
Many top Indian cricketers have been asking for a full-fledged women’s IPL instead of the exhibition Women’s T20 Challenge, which is not being held this year. Harmanpreet used the growth of the men’s team thanks to IPL, as an example of what a domestic league can do.
“But if there is a WIPL, it will be a great opportunity for domestic players who come to the international level. The same thing happened with the men when they got a platform like IPL. Now when they play international cricket, it doesn’t look like some young talent is playing, they show maturity because they carry the tag of having played 40-50 IPL games where they have played good cricket and won matches for their team,” she said.
“That is the only reason we are lacking right now. If we get to play good cricket at the domestic level before international matches then we will definitely improve as a team,” she added.