I will be more inclined towards helping domestic players as WPL is a huge platform: Mithali Raj

Mithali Raj, the team mentor of the Adani Gujarat Giants, said that she will be focusing more on helping the domestic players as the Women’s Premier League is a huge platform for them.

Question: What do you think will be the impact of WPL in the coming years as you’ve seen the growth of women’s cricket right from the start?

In an exclusive interview with India Sports News, Adani Gujarat Giants team mentor Mithali Raj said, “The impact will be huge because it is not only a platform for international stars or our capped players, but it’s also a platform for the uncapped players where we can unearth talent and nurture them, and that will in turn help Indian team to have or probably expand the pool of players, who can tomorrow have a go for getting themselves picked for the Indian team other than the domestic games that we have in a year.”

Question: Unfortunately, you lost your captain Beth Mooney in your first game of the season due to an injury. So, what is the status of her at the current moment and when can she be available for your team as a captain?

“See, that is the physio will take a call and the franchise will soon give out a statement regarding her.”

Question: How disappointing it was for your team to lose that close game against the UP Warriorz, considering you were in a very good position at one stage after the end of 16 overs?

“See, losing the first game, it was very important for us to register a win and in that context, yes it was disappointing to lose the second game when it was such a tight game. But again, we can take the positive out of it that the team looked more settled in the second game. They executed all the strategies and the plans that we came in for the game,” she said.

“But, credit goes to the player like [Grace] Harris to play a blinder like that. Because a player like her only can play that innings and you know take us away from the game. But, I would say that the girls actually gave their best and that we were able to see on the ground,” she added.

Question: What was the plan behind sending Ashleigh Gardner at No.6 in the previous game? Do you think she can contribute more with the bat if she comes to bat at No.4 or No.5?

“See, because we also have to understand we didn’t have [Beth] Mooney at the top. We’ll have to structure our batting order in such a way that you know it’s not too late and not too early because we’ve seen in the first game she going in too early, also didn’t help us,” she said.

“So, it is important because she is one of our top main batters in the batting line up and we would want to give her over, but at the same time which helps her to get going and not add too much pressure. So there also have to be other batters who are playing along with her,” she added.

Question: Harleen Deol played a very good innings of 46 in the previous game. So, how impressed are you with her performance and how important she is as a batter for your team?

“See, from the first game I think almost all of them have made a good comeback into the second game whether it is [Sabbhineni] Meghana or Sophia’s [Dunkley] cameo, Harleen Deol, whether it is Ash [Ashleigh Gardner], even though she didn’t score big, but whatever little time she spent was also very important for the team. Hemalatha [Dayalan] also pitched in,” she said.

“So, I think they are coming well. We need to have a player like Harleen also, who’s playing the anchor role when we have Hema and Ash who are stroke players. So, the roles have to complement and sink in such a way that it helps and benefit the batting unit that we are looking at,” she added.

Question: What are the areas where you think your team is lacking at the moment and you need some improvement going into the upcoming matches?

“See, I definitely feel that the way they turned out for the second game was very good compared to the first and I’m sure they’ll be in a much better better position getting into the third game.

“Well, there’ll always be areas that a team looks to improve on from the last game and I hope that you know whatever the team plans on the field because yes we come in with lot of strategies but as the game progresses, they change their plans. But, I really hope that in the next game, the team comes in much better shape and hopefully the result is in our favour,” she said.

Question: As a team mentor of Gujarat Giants, how different is your role from head coach and do you focus working more on the mental side of the game with the players?

“Well, see head coach of course has the skill part looking after. As a mentor, yes I am looking into the preparation, the mental aspect of a player. After the first game, I had a lot of work to do with the players [smiles], which I did and I’m glad that it worked and they were in a better frame of mind when they took the field for the second game.

“So, that is something I will be inclined more towards helping the domestic players because this is a huge platform for them and it is the first season so there will be many players who will be a little overawed or overwhelmed with how WPL has so far garnered attention from all over,” she signed off.