Great chance for city girls to enter WPL sphere

Mumbai captain Prakashika Naik

Ahead of the Women's Premier League (WPL) auction, 60 promising city cricketers are set to impress coaches and selectors in the inaugural Mumbai Cricket Association's (MCA) President Cup T20 tournament starting at the Wankhede Stadium today.

Mumbai captain Prakashika Naik will lead Mumbai Unicorns' challenge while Humairaa Kazi will captain Mumbai Thunders. The other two teams - Mumbai Warriors and Mumbai Blasters - will be led by Jagravi Pawar and Riya Chaudhari respectively.

"The President Cup is a golden opportunity for all of us. Talent scouts of various WPL teams will be following this tournament and you never know, if you perform well, you will get a chance to play the WPL," all-rounder Naik told mid-day on Monday.

Also read: Mumbai's budding women cricketers look forward to inaugural Women's Premier League

"We are really grateful to MCA for organising this tournament at such short notice. It will create more opportunities for a lot of women cricketers," she added.

Meanwhile, Sanjay Gaitonde, the former batting coach at MCA's Bandra-Kurla Complex academy, said: "While it is good to give captaincy opportunities to new players, it would be more beneficial if they were given the job as vice-captains for them to be groomed by the seniors. Sayali Satgahre and Manali Dakshini have led Mumbai, but both are not leading any team in this tournament."