The Women's Premier League (WPL) 2023 is finally happening with five teams from Ahmedabad, Lucknow, Delhi, Bangalore and Mumbai set to battle for 409 players in Mumbai on Monday. Ahead of the mega historic event taking place, three veterans of Indian cricket spoke to BCCI cricket to share their best wishes for the teams and the players — both Indian and foreign.
Rohit Sharma, Ravichandran Ashwin and Dinesh Karthik were the three players who were proud of the direction that women's cricket was taking, and all three players agreed that these auctions and the introduction of the WPL in itself are a massive boost for the future of women's cricket in India.
"Looking forward to the tournament. however, it's an interesting concept of having an auction. I hope the girls are excited because I am... It was about time that the women in our country got the opportunity to compete at the highest level. The women's team have done exceedingly well at world championships," said Ravichandran Ashwin, fresh after breaking Anil Kumble's record.
"They have been very good at (ICC) World Cups. Over the last few years, we have already seen the Women's T20 challenge go ahead very well. And now that the rights have been sold at incredible costs, I can only hope that the landscape of the game changes forever," Ashwin added.
Karthik, who has been involved in multiple franchise T20 leagues across the world, is proud of seeing the WPL kicking off in India and inspiring future generations into taking up the sport professionally.
"In the last five years, women's cricket around the world has really picked up. Luckily for me, I was part of another tournament in England where I could see the interest that young girls had to come and watch the matches to see their heroes play. And now that will happen in India and that is what you want.
"We will see names, not only from the international and Indian international calibre but also from the small domestic circuit as well," Karthik said.
