Vadodara: The third edition of the Women’s Premier League (WPL), starting on February 14 will be played across four cities: Vadodara, Lucknow, Bengaluru and Mumbai. Bengaluru and Mumbai are familiar grounds for all five teams, but the addition of Vadodara and Lucknow injects a captivating and new element into the WPL.
Jonathan Batty, head coach of the Delhi Capitals (DC), believes the pitches in Vadodara and Lucknow can offer high-scoring games. “We’ve been really lucky the last two years that the wickets we’ve played on have been absolutely fantastic, and we’ve seen some really competitive high scoring games.”
“Again, we’re just taking it game by game, assessing the conditions as we go. We were really lucky with the practice facility we had in Pune – we practiced on black soil and red soil wickets. So we’re trying to cover all those bases without really knowing necessarily what we’re going to find.”
“Here in the Kotambi stadium, it’s a fantastic wicket. Obviously, the Indian women played a series here recently (against Ireland) that was really high scoring. So I expect the wickets to be fantastic from that angle. As always with cricket, you have to assess those conditions when you get on the field, and you try and do those assessments beforehand.”
“It’s only when the players step out onto them, they really know what they’re going to do. So you’ve got to stay flexible, stay fluid with your thinking and react to what’s in front of you. But it’s really exciting to have these new venues on the calendar,” said Batty while replying to a query from IANS in the pre-season press conference.
The Meg Lanning-led side reached Vadodara ahead of their tournament-opening game against Mumbai Indians on February 15 after wrapping an extensive pre-season camp in Pune.
Batty said he linked up after the whole squad had assembled and revealed there were intra-squad practice games played in the camp, which he called ‘excellent’. He added the camp also presented players chance to find their T20 rhythm and get themselves clarity on their roles in the team.
“We got out of it what we wanted individually and as a team, so that’s nice. So we sort of got that part out of the way now. Now it’s just about fine tuning a little bit more for the game coming up on Saturday for us.”
“So, we’ve got a session at the stadium where we’ll be playing the games, which will give us a good chance to see what the surroundings are like and get used to that. Then it sort of becomes a little bit more individualised, I guess, in terms of what individual players need to get ready to play, and we feel like we’re ready.”
“Everyone’s adapted to the conditions and got back into the swing of things after sort of a year apart as a full squad. So preparation’s been really good, and we’re excited. There’s good energy amongst the group. So it’s just about now, fine tuning, as I said, and getting ready for the game coming up on Saturday.”
In terms of their playing eleven composition, DC have to decide who between the incumbent Taniya Bhatia, and new joinees Nandini Kashyap and Scotland’s Sarah Bryce don the keeping gloves. Taniya has led the charge with the gloves for the first two seasons, but hasn’t contributed substantially with the bat for DC.
“Taniya’s been probably the best wicketkeeper in the tournament the last two years. I’ve been really impressed with her glove work. Our job as a team is to keep involving, developing, and growing. So obviously getting some more challenge for that we’re keeping role is really important for us.”
“It’s an open floor at the moment. We will obviously come Saturday, pick the best 11 to try and win that first game, and that will continue through the tournament. So selection is always in the players hands. It’s up to them to sort of show to us that they should be in the team, prove that they should be in the team.”
“So it’s nice to have some real competition for Taniya in that wicket keeping spot. But it’s nice that we have grown our squad. I think we’re really strong again. We’ve kept the core together. But our job is to have the strongest 18 player squad we possibly can do,” he added.
WPL 2025 re-starts DC’s quest to win their first title after suffering consecutive runners-up finishes. Batty signed off by saying their planning for WPL 2025 began shortly after losing last year’s final at their home ground Arun Jaitley Stadium in New Delhi, including having specialised camps for their Indian contingent.
“From the moment a tournament finishes, you start planning for the next cycle as well. We actually stay connected with the WhatsApp group. So players obviously stay connected, wish each other happy birthday, watch how each other are doing in different tournaments and share those congratulations and good luck messages around. So there’s a really nice connection through the rest of the year with that.”
“But also we then come together as a squad when players are available outside of their regular seasons. We do run specialist training camps at various places around India. Coaches will go to meet them at their home location if that’s appropriate, and it’s that constant evolution, trying to upskill players and help them grow as individuals.”
(IANS)
