‘Women’s IPL will help bridge the gap’

India skipper Harmanpreet Kaur feels the upcoming Women’s IPL, scheduled to begin in March next year, will be a major boost for women’s cricket in India, adding that the tournament will help bridge the gap between international and domestic cricket.”The IPL is a huge step forward for women’s cricket because, before this, we have witnessed the Australia Board, England Board, they have looked after the WBBL and The Hundred. I think we as athletes have discussed it as well, that there’s a big gap between domestic and international cricket which some cricketers were not able to match, because even if you play well in domestic cricket and then suddenly play international games, you’re not able to understand what to do and how to do it.””And someone like me, I was lucky you know, I had Jhulan (Goswami) di, Anjum (Chopra) di who were guiding me as to what to do, how I can perform better. So, some players, they are shy, they cannot open up, so, for them, it’s very difficult to play both domestic and international cricket.””So, the IPL will be a great platform for players that are really good, but you know for them, international cricket is still something that they cannot change their approach and mindset overnight,” said Harmanpreet on the ‘Follow the Blues’ show on Star Sports.The right-handed batting all-rounder is optimistic that women’s IPL will also help in elevating the performances of Indian cricketers at the international level. “But in the IPL, when they get a chance to play against overseas players, that will be something that will give them a platform, they can play well, they can understand what is international cricket.”