Hyderabad:

The third edition of the WPL will be played at four venues, the Baroda Cricket Association Stadium, Kotambi in Vadodara, M Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bengaluru, Bharat Ratna Shri Atal Bihari Vajpayee Ekana Cricket Stadium in Lucknow and Brabourne Stadium in Mumbai. The tournament, which has five teams, will start in Vadodara on February 14, while the final will be played at the Brabourne Stadium on March 15.  Delhi Capitals skipper Meg Lanning on Thursday welcomed the Women's Premier League's (WPL) move to play at four venues saying that players are aware of the conditions in India and it would not be a concern for any of the teams.

 "I think a lot of players have played in different conditions here (in India) and are able to adapt pretty quickly, so I don't think it will be an issue for any of the teams across the leagues. Obviously, the Indian players or the local players will understand the conditions well than any of the internationals. It is a really good thing for the game to reach (more) audiences," added Lanning, one of the stalwarts of the game.

Meanwhile, Mumbai Indians skipper Harmanpreet Kaur believes the five-team tournament has been a big reason behind the strike rate of all batters becoming better in the ongoing 2024/25 domestic season. Lanning-led Delhi Capitals will look to go one step ahead of the first two editions when they lost in the finals. While Mumbai Indians won the inaugural edition, the Royal Challengers Bengaluru laid their hands on the Cup in the second edition.

"One thing was very clear - if we talk about our domestic cricket this season, the strike rate of all the batters was much better. That (WPL) was the only reason. There were more than 300 runs in domestic (games) and everyone was batting with a very good approach. So I think the domestic cricketers saw one thing from WPL if they want to participate in this competition, they really need to work hard on their strike rate and power-hitting ability," said Harmanpreet, herself an aggressive batter.

The other captains who spoke were Royal Challengers Bengaluru's Smriti Mandhana, Ashleigh Gardner of Gujarat Giants and Deepti Sharma of UP Warriorz.

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