WPL: Edwards, Goswami, Kaur plot fearless campaign for Mumbai Indians

The Mumbai Indians dugout has always been famous among IPL support staff for the presence of marquee names — and it will hardly be different for the third Women’s Premier League (WPL) beginning this Friday, 14 February.

Charlotte Edwards and Jhulan Goswami, two of the biggest gamechangers in women’s sport this millennium, will be providing inputs to Harmanpreet Kaur’s team as they bid for their second title in three years.

Edwards, the England batter who was the highest scorer in women’s ODIs for years (5992 runs) until Mithali Raj overtook her, is back as chief coach — along with Goswami, the highest wickettaker in women’s ODIs (255 scalps), as bowling coach and mentor.

As the Mumbai Indians are busy fine-tuning their preparations ahead of their opener against the Delhi Capitals in Vadodara on 15 February (Saturday), both sides want to see their teams to play without fear of losing.

“Every player, we just want them to be fearless and obviously, most of all, have lots of fun. What makes me and obviously Jhulan very happy is when they’ve got smiles on their faces and they can impact games like the way they have done,” the 45-year-old Edwards said at the season opening press conference.

“I thought we played some fantastic cricket last year and that’s all we can ask [for]. Things that we really set here is that we want people turning on the TV and watching the Mumbai Indians playing, and we certainly did that last time — we had some entertaining games of cricket.”

Last year, the Mumbai Indians had fallen short by just 5 runs in the eliminator against eventual champions Royal Challengers Bangalore, as their middle order failed to score 16 runs off the last two overs after their captain’s dismissal.

After leading the squad through their paces over the last few days in a preparatory camp, Edwards said: “It’s been a brilliant few days. Initially having a lot of the Indian domestic players, we as a coaching team had been able to dedicate a lot of time to them. A lot of our focus in training has also been around match scenarios, so we put them in a number of scenarios that we feel they may face in the WPL.”

The ever-smiling Goswami, who became only the second women’s cricketer in India after Diana Eduljee to have a stand named around her in a stadium (Eden Gardens), is happy that the WPL is spreading its wings this year and will be held over four venues.

While the first WPL was held in Mumbai and Navi Mumbai, the second season expanded to Bengaluru and Delhi. The third edition will be played across four cities: Vadodara, Lucknow, Bengaluru and Mumbai.

Goswami, who has played international cricket for over 20 years, said expanding the women’s game in the country was the motto of the WPL. She also hopes to lift the trophy at the Brabourne Stadium again, which will host the final two league games and the knockouts.

“One of the best things about WPL is it’s now going to different places in our country and it will impact local young girls, budding cricketers — motivate them, encourage them,” she said.

“Baroda (now Vadodara) will be a new venue for all of us. Recently, the Indian team played a series against West Indies [there] and the wicket was good; it’s a new stadium.

“Lucknow’s Ekana Stadium is a fantastic stadium.

“Coming back to Mumbai, [we’re] looking forward to coming back to our home and playing in front of our MI fans. It’s a big thing and [we are] really looking forward to this season.’’