New Delhi, June 5 (IANS) India vice-captain Smriti Mandhana, who will be captaining Ratnagiri Jets in the inaugural season of the women’s Maharashtra Premier League (MPL), believes the state-level female cricketers stand to gain a new level of professionalism through playing franchise cricket.

From Thursday, when Women’s MPL begins, Maharashtra will join the likes of Delhi, Uttarakhand, and Bengal as states having their women’s T20 franchise tournament, which also attract attendances from scouts of Women’s Premier League (WPL). “For state associations, and for Maharashtra as well, to have this sort of platform—where I touched upon the fact that there’ll be a lot of eyes from WPL scouts—and also, of course, these sorts of performances can serve as a benchmark for people to get into the state side as well.

“So, I mean, to have that is great. And more importantly, I always believe that franchise cricket brings a different sort of professionalism into the sport, and for the girls—the state-level girls—to experience that, I’m sure they’ll be well-prepped when they go to the next level.

“So, yeah, I mean, the owners come with a different set of expectations, and playing with that sort of expectation always helps groom players and develop maturity in them. So, I’m sure a lot of Maharashtra girls are going to benefit from it,” said Smriti to reporters ahead of the commencement of the tournament’s inaugural edition.

Asked about the efforts of the franchise and their grassroots programme Jets Club having programs for creating future women cricketers, Smriti elaborated, “Yeah, I mean, to get that at the age of 14–15 is great. Of course, we got it a little later, so we had to start developing it by looking at international standards.

“But the best thing about India at this moment, with women’s cricket, is the investment that’s coming in—and the investment they get to groom a player. I mean, very late in our careers, we realized the importance of fitness and all of those things. But I’m sure the club and the initiative are only going to promote or help them understand more about what is actually needed for the next level, and I’m sure they’ll be well-prepped.

“So, like, clubs and all of these people coming into cricket—I mean, men’s cricket already had that—and for them to now come into women’s cricket is just amazing. I’m sure a lot of girls are going to benefit from it. In terms of the number of girls getting impacted, it’s going to be a lot more, and I’m sure within 3–4 years we’ll see the changes and differences, even in the Indian side and their performances.”

Quizzed on if she had a word with her team-mates on handling pressure of playing league matches which are also televised, Smriti stated, “I wouldn’t take it as pressure. I mean, pressure is there every time you step on the field, so you don’t need to take any added pressure. Whenever you wear a jersey and represent a team, you want to do the best for them—so that pressure is always there. But we’ll take that as motivation rather than pressure.

“Firstly, I’ll, of course, have a nice conversation with them, and the only message which I believe in is: you play cricket to have fun, enjoy, and actually have a really positive environment. Because, like, you win trophies, you don’t win trophies—but what you remember is the journey of that one month or those 20 days when we are going to be part of one squad.

“And that’s the only thing. I mean, let’s just have a lot of fun together. There’s nothing like—I don’t really believe in something like senior or junior. It’s just more experience and less experience. I mean, when you start playing cricket at the place like I started—of course, I still play whenever I get an opportunity—but you started at Maharashtra, so firstly, to know that Maharashtra is starting a women’s league, I was very happy and excited.”

“And of course, whenever the opportunity comes to represent a team, as I said, I mean it’s always a new role, an exciting role, so of course, I was really excited and happy. And more importantly, I was very excited for the girls of Maharashtra—I mean, for them to get this platform and to express themselves. So yeah, really looking forward to that.”

Ratnagiri Jets will face off against the Raigad Royals on Thursday at 7:00 PM IST, exclusively on JioHotstar.

–IANS

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