Grace Harris, the Australian all-rounder, believes the inaugural Women's Premier League (WPL) will help the Indian national women's team become a much bigger powerhouse than they are now, and may even help them match Australia's standard.
The five-time IPL champions Mumbai Indians, Delhi Capitals, and Royal Challengers Bangalore, as well as the Adani Group and Capri Global, won bids last week to own teams in the WPL, which will begin in March this year, with the BCCI fetching a total bid of INR 4669.99 crore.
Viacom18 Media Private Limited also won the WPL's consolidated bid for media rights (i.e., Global Television Rights and Global Digital Rights) for 2023-2027, with a bid of INR 951 crore, equating to INR 7.09 crore per match.
"The better your domestic competition, the stronger your internationals will be. (The WPL) will have an impact on Indian cricket. They will be a much bigger force than they are now. The women's India team, along with Australia, will be pushing our boundaries and driving international standards of women's cricket "According to AAP, Grace said.
Australian leg-spinner Alana King, whose parents are originally from Chennai, echoed Grace's sentiments, claiming that the WPL will accelerate the growth of women's cricket even further. "It will propel the women's game even further and place it on the global stage. This is where the women's game is at, and it deserves to be."
India is currently ranked fourth in both the T20I and ODI rankings by the ICC, with Australia at the top. Following a five-T20I tour of India in December, Australia hosted Pakistan at home in January before departing for South Africa to defend their Women's T20 World Cup title in February.
Darcie Brown, a fast bowler, said that while she needed some downtime at home after a hectic schedule, she didn't want to miss out on the WPL auction. "We'd have to leave straight away from the World Cup to go over there if we were to get picked up, and there's so much cricket getting played later this year as well. But it would be foolish to pass up such an opportunity."
With the WPL joining the Women's Big Bash League (WBBL), England's The Hundred, and the West Indies' Women's Caribbean Premier League (CPL), as well as a women's league in Pakistan in the works, Alana believes that participating in franchise T20 competitions will not keep Australia players away from national duties. "We enjoy serving our country and we would not trade that for anything else."