Harmanpreet prioritises 'winning mindset', coach Keightley looks to nurture domestic players

After leading India women to their first World Cup win last year, Harmanpreet Kaur has now set her sights on another WPL title win, saying she wants to leave behind a legacy of a "winning mindset".

"Wherever I go, I want to see people only think about how we can win. Participation - we have been doing for so many years, but that doesn't change anything," Harmanpreet said at Mumbai Indians' pre-tournament press conference in Mumbai. "But if you go with a winning mindset and work towards that, it can bring a lot of things to you and your country."

Harmanpreet had led MI to two WPL wins in three seasons before captaining India to the World Cup title. She attributed her winning mindset to her time with the franchise, with whom she has been since the inaugural WPL season in 2023.

"WPL has made a lot of changes in me, especially in thinking," Harmanpreet said. "Before that, there were some limitations. MI have been winning IPL titles for so many years. When I came here at MI and was sitting with them, they were always thinking about what best we can do to beat any team and win the title. Their thought process changed me and wherever I went, I thought about how I can change the mindset. We can only think about what we can win. That reflected in the last few years."

MI are big on consistency in personnel. However, the departure of Charlotte Edwards, who is now England's head coach, has forced them to tweak their coaching set-up. Lisa Keightley, who was Delhi Capitals' (DC) assistant coach for the last three years, is now at the helm for MI, and she has an all-female coaching staff comprising mentor and bowling coach Jhulan Goswami, batting coach Devika Palshikar, fielding coach Nicole Bolton and spin-bowling coach Kristen Beams.

"There are so many more opportunities to coach; to come out as a player and have those opportunities [is great]," Keightley said. "We'll see a lot more players get into coaching the franchise teams and hopefully, one day, we will have a female coach coaching India, which would be exciting and would be a huge growth of the game."

Keightley, a two-time World Cup winner with Australia in 1997 and 2005, is no stranger to coaching. She was the first woman to be the head coach of Australia in 2007-08. She was then in charge of England women from 2019 to 2022, before taking up similar roles with Sydney Thunder (WBBL) and Northern Superchargers (now Sunrisers Leeds in the Hundred).

"I have been coaching elite sport and elite teams now for 20 years. Now that we are getting into so many franchises, it's really exciting for me to be able to be involved in those and be a head coach around the world," Keightley said. "In my last 20 years, I have never had a full-female coaching panel, which is really exciting and something different for me. That's also great for our players to see. I am a big believer in if you can't see it you can't be it. I'd love to see it more often. In the next ten years you will see that.

"From Mrs. Ambani, I think to have a female leader in powerful positions making decisions, that also plays a part of why we have got females in our coaching staff. It starts at the top, and it has filtered down."

Keightley also lauded the effect the WPL has had on India's domestic cricket. The number of new players that keep coming up at the auction shows the depth in domestic cricket, she said.

"The WPL is getting very competitive, and it's harder to pick your team at an auction because you have got a lot more players to choose from," Keightley said. "The domestic players are improving, and the Indian international players are getting fantastic competition to lead into international cricket World Cups and being put under pressure. If you are doing that in your domestic competition, it is only going to enhance your performance when you go away to play international cricket. You've seen the result through India winning the 50-over World Cup when they were under pressure in the semi-final.

"That's the result of the WPL in the last three years and you're seeing the reward when they go away for international competitions. I'd imagine you go another three years and it is going to be very scary watching India play in some World Cups."

The competitiveness shown by the domestic players at training has also caught the eye of Keightley. When she was with DC, she witnessed the rise of N Shree Charani, who played for India at the World Cup, from close quarters. The story is similar at MI.

"When I come into work with any of the domestic Indian players in the last four years, it means so much to them. I don't really have to say too much," Keightley said. "You can tell by their work ethic, the way they listen, the way they communicate and want to work with the internationals that come in. It's just so refreshing and beautiful to see what it means to them.

"The way they compete in nets… just the other day, Amelia [Kerr]'s first training session… Triveni [Vasistha], our left-arm spinner, came in, hit her pad and was like 'out, out, out!' We don't get that in Australia; you just hit the pad and the bowler walks back. So it's very competitive, which is really cute. When they are out training or in a practice match, the intensity is lovely to see. Generally at home, if we played a practice match, the players roll through that opportunity, but over here the competition they just love it.

"I love seeing that. You don't have to say much. They are so happy that they have been selected, they have got an opportunity to experience. For some it changes their life, it starts the journey of opening up doors. If we can facilitate that, help and support them to fulfill their dreams - and it might be playing for Mumbai and winning a tournament or it might be going through to play for India - that's the way I look at it. Just facilitating, helping and guiding and making sure this experience for Mumbai is one they won't forget, and when they leave they are thinking 'I can't wait to come back, and play next year'."