MUMBAI, 13^th  FEBRUARY, 2024 (GPN)— The Woman Premier league tournament Inaugural Session was a massive success, WPL turned out to be an outstanding winner last year, the cricket fraternity is waiting with bated breath for the commencement on the second edition of the tournament.

Mumbai Indians who lifted the title last year after defeating Delhi Capitals in the final by seven wickets, have unveiled their jersey for WPL 2024. The attractive-looking jersey has been designed by renowned designer Monisha Jaising. The jersey retains the essence of the traditional blue and gold that Mumbai Indians have been accustomed to wearing.Monisha Jaising’s jersey design is inspired by the peacock, which represents a balanced mix of strength and elegance.

Skechers India created the official playing uniforms for the Mumbai Indians women’s squad, exhibiting a great blend of comfort and design.

“The jersey’s print is inspired by the shades of blue of the feathers on the peacock’s neck and breast that show a characteristic colour and size gradient. The coral-peach colour is inspired by the central part of the feather called the stem, which belongs to the coral-brown palette. The gradient pattern takes inspiration from natural geometric and colour gradient seen on the neck and breast feathers of the peacock,” Mumbai Indians wrote in an official statement.

Harmanpreet Kaur and Co. will be donning the new jersey on February 23 at the M Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bengaluru when they take on Delhi Capitals in the curtain raiser of WPL 2024. The player edition jersey has been priced at Rs 3,999 on the official website of the Mumbai Indians. While the first 11 matches of the tournament will be staged at Bengaluru’s M Chinnaswamy Stadium, the action will subsequently shift to the Arun Jaitley Stadium in New Delhi for the backend fixtures.

The team will begin their campaign against the Gujarat Giants on March 4 at the DY Patil Stadium. The newly constituted coaching team for the women’s squad includes Charlotte Edwards (Head Coach), Jhulan Goswami (Team Mentor and Bowling Coach), and Devieka Palshikaar (Batting Coach).

Mumbai Indians, led by Harmanpreet Kaur, are the defending champions and a lot will be expected of them going into the next season. Can MI successfully defend their title with some of the best T20 cricketers in their team for the upcoming tournament?

Star Indian players Yastika Bhatia, Pooja Vastrakar and Humaira Kazi joined Mumbai Indians preparatory camp on February 12; i.e., roughly a couple of weeks prior to the WPL 2024 season. The three cricketers took to the nets for an intense training session as part of their pre-season schedule.

Mumbai Indians batting coach and former cricketer Devieka Palshikaar said that the players were given a choice at the session to work on any specific shot.

“The players got a choice today at the session with range hitting and any specific shot they want to work on. Some of them play a finisher’s role like Pooja, Amanjot, Sajana and Kaazi, so we focused on range hitting,” Devieka said ahead of WPL 2024.”

Mumbai Indians Women WPL 2024 squad:

Harmanpreet Kaur (c), Amanjot Kaur, Amelia Kerr, Chloe Tryon, Hayley Matthews, Humaira Kazi, Issy Wong, Jintimani Kalita, Nat Sciver-Brunt, Pooja Vastrakar, Priyanka Bala, Saika Ishaque, Yastika Bhatia, Shabnim Ismail, S Sajana, Amandeep Kaur, Fatima Jaffer and Keerthana Balakrishnan.

Last year, Mumbai Indians won six out of their eight matches in the round-robin phase of the tournament to qualify for the Eliminator. England all-rounder Nat Sciver-Brunt finished as the leading run-getter for the franchise with 332 runs from 10 innings at an average of 66.40 and a strike rate of 140.08. Harmanpreet (281 runs) and Hayley Matthews (271 runs) also had impressive campaigns. The latter also emerged as the joint-highest wicket-taker in the tournament, bagging 16 wickets from 10 matches at an average of 12.62. The West Indies captain won the Player of the Series award for her all-round exploits.

The experienced trio of Harmanpreet, Hayley, and Sciver-Brunt would be hoping to inspire the younger players on the side and help the franchise retain the title.