‘Tournaments like this will speed that up a fair bit’ - Meg Lanning reflects on success of WPL 2023

Australia women's team skipper Meg Lanning feels that the Women’s Premier League (WPL) will make the international domain more competitive. She recently led the Delhi Capitals (DEL-W) to the finals of the first-ever WPL season. However, they were defeated by the Mumbai Indians (MI-W) by seven wickets in the summit clash at the Brabourne Stadium on Sunday.

The right-handed batter has produced an impressive performance throughout the tournament despite failing to lead her side to win the title. Lanning was the leading run scorer in the tournament scoring and subsequently won the Orange Cap. She amassed 345 runs from nine matches with an average of 49.28. 

The Australian expressed her desire to play more cricket. The 31-year-old said that she was hoping to play at least another four or five years with the goal to witness and contribute more towards the growth of women’s cricket. Furthermore, the Singapore-born did not miss out on how the Australian women's team have worked hard to raise the benchmark of the game. Notably, Australia Women currently hold both world titles.

“Hopefully this is just the start and there’s a lot bigger things to come which is really exciting. I can’t see any reason why I can’t play for four or five more years, it is just whether that is something I want to do. I haven’t thought too much. But especially with new opportunities like the WPL coming up, you really want to be part of that," Lanning stated as per the BBC Podcast.

“We’ve worked really hard over a long period of time to get the game into a good spot now, and hopefully it continues to grow. I want to be part of it for a little bit longer," she further continued.

'Australia think it is important the global game is growing' - Meg Lanning

Meg Lanning believes that the WPL will close the gap between Australia and other teams. 'The Megastar' said that it is important for Australia that the game is growing globally. She added that it is not always about Australia winning every time, albeit, winning constantly is every team's goal and she was no exception to it either. Therefore, the 31-year-old wants to bring more competitiveness in women's cricket by competing against better quality teams. 

"Tournaments like this will speed that up a fair bit. As an Australian team, we think it is important the global game is growing. It is not just about us winning all the time. We want to win all the time. There’s no doubt about that, but there is more at play that just that,” Lanning said.

Additionally, after ending up as the runner-up of the inaugural WPL, Lanning wishes to play in Delhi in front of the home crowd. Even though she felt that playing in one city to kick start the cricket carnival was sensible but to be able to play at home is just another feeling for any skipper and a player as well. The Delhi Capitals skipper is hopeful that from next year they may get to play in the home-away formats similar to Men's premier competition.

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