Mumbai, Feb 10 (IANS): Defending champions Mumbai Indians have commenced their training in Mumbai ahead of the 2024 season of the Women’s Premier League (WPL). Head coach Charlotte Edwards welcomed players from the 2023 cohort back in action as well as new players Keerthana Balakrishnan, Sajana Sajeevan and Fatima Jaffer to the squad.
"It has been really lovely the last couple of days. Getting to know the new players and catching up with players from the last season has been great. We have seven players in the camp already. They have had lots of cricket already. It has been a nice start so far," said Charlotte in a statement issued by the franchise.
Apart from Charlotte, mentor and bowling coach Jhulan Goswami, batting coach Devieka Palshikaar, fielding coach Lydia Greenway, as well as other support members have arrived for the training camp.
Players like Yastika Bhatia, Amanjot Kaur, Humairaa Kaazi, Saika Ishaque, Jintimani Kalita, Sajana Sajeevan, Keerthana Balakrishnan, Priyanka Bala and Fatima Jaffer have arrived in batches for the training camp, with personal assessments and customised practice in place to sharpen their skillsets.
WPL 2024 will be happening from February 23 to March 17 at the M Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bengaluru and at the Arun Jaitley Stadium in New Delhi, respectively. The first 11 matches of WPL 2024 will be held in Bengaluru, with the remaining nine league matches and the two Playoff matches taking place in New Delhi.
Mumbai Indians will open their campaign against Delhi Capitals on February 23, in what will be a re-match of the WPL 2023 final, where Harmanpreet Kaur-captained side defeated the Meg Lanning-led team by seven wickets at the Brabourne Stadium in Mumbai.
Each team will play the other four teams twice. The table-topper of the five-team league stage will enter the final directly. Teams finishing second and third on the points table will face-off in the eliminator to decide who meets the table-topper in the title clash.
Mumbai Indians squad: Amanjot Kaur, Amelia Kerr, Chloe Tryon, Harmanpreet Kaur, Hayley Matthews, Humairaa Kaazi, Issy Wong, Jintimani Kalita, Nat Sciver-Brunt, Pooja Vastrakar, Priyanka Bala, Saika Ishaque, Yastika Bhatia, Shabnim Ismail, Sajeevan Sajana, Amandeep Kaur, Fatima Jaffer, and Keerthana Balakrishnan