Harmanpreet Kaur in line to play the WBBL opener for Sydney Thunder

Harmanpreet Kaur became one of the biggest names in Indian women’s cricket after being awarded a contract to play in the Women’s Big Bash League (WBBL). Sydney Thunder is the defending champions in the Women’s Big Bash League. Harmanpreet recently led India to a thumping win in the Asia Cup. Some more good news came her way when she was named in the 13-member squad for the inaugural fixture of Sydney Thunder for WBBL.

Sydney Thunder is scheduled to take on Melbourne Stars on Saturday in their first match. The 27-year old cricketer recently joined her teammates. If Harmanpreet Kaur features in the starting eleven, she will become the first Indian to play. Earlier, Kaur had revealed that Ellyse Perry and Meg Lanning kept telling her good things about WBBL.

She had quoted, “Perry had told me that if I get a chance, I should grab the offer. All of them – Lanning, Alex Blackwell – are nice people, we are good friends. But I thought they will call at least five or six girls, I am surprised they only called me.”

Kaur had also added that she was excited to be a part of the league. She was grateful to the BCCI president for allowing her to feature in the mega event. “I have been waiting for this kind of a league from a long time. I am glad BCCI president Anurag Thakur is making such changes. Earlier, we didn’t have permission,” she had added.

When asked why she chose to play for Sydney Thunder, Harmanpreet Kaur had revealed that it was her seniors who asked her to go with the franchise. “My seniors told me to choose Sydney Thunder because if I play with a winning team, my morale will be high. There will be areas where I will be blank as it will be my first season, a champion team can help me overcome that. I am primarily working on my fitness with Harshal Pathak in Pune. People say I am fit enough but when I go there, they shouldn’t feel that I am not up to their standards. They shouldn’t say that I am an Indian and I am not as fit,” Kaur had quoted earlier.