Harmanpreet Kaur credits Big Bash League for improved mindset

Indian women’s cricket has come leaps and bounds over the past decade. Rightly, the women’s game is slowly gaining its due recognition, much in thanks to the Indian team which has made the finals of the ICC World cup in 2017 and the ICC World T20 earlier this year. Harmanpreet Kaur, the captain of the Indian T20 team has praised the Big Bash League for the improved standards in fitness and training efficiency.

"It made a lot of difference. I can say that there's a big difference in my mindset now and what it was before," said Harmanpreet, talking to Cricbuzz. "I don't know why previously we used to look for our comfort zone - scoring as per our comfort - but Big Bash was a completely new experience for me.

"I had to go and play with different players who I don't know at all, and about whom I've not even heard about before. To stay with them for a month/month and a half, and play with them... because previously we'd played cricket amongst our people so you'd not think too much about you're out of home, how you are etc. But to go there, to do everything by yourself from morning to night and to play cricket along with that, I've learnt a lot from that.”

Harmanpreet Kaur, who was the first Indian to be signed by a WBBL franchise said, ”We didn't give enough respect to time (here) - at what time you train, at what time you leave the ground, we don't do these things. So in the time period, we got (over there) to do everything, that was a different kind of pressure.”

Talking about the difference in training culture between India and that of the BBL, ”You have only 15 minutes to do everything in the nets... it's not even like you have all day in the nets so you do whatever you want. In 15 minutes you've to do everything, you've to do all kinds of training that you need. So you take that pressure and train. And in a single day we'd do everything - batting, bowling, fitness, gym - which I've not done in India,” elaborated Harmanpreet.

"In India, on days when you bat, you may follow it up with some running but you can't do gym because you'll have soreness. But in the Big Bash, in spite of doing all three things in a single day, I was fresh the next day. With that, the mind started getting different messages that I can do everything in a day, and made me think 'why do I keep waiting and saying I'll do this tomorrow or that day after?'. There's nothing like that,” she added.

[Cricbuzz inputs]