For two-time runner-up Delhi Capitals (DC), it’s not about “changing too much”, skipper Meg Lanning said ahead of the 2025 season of the Women’s Premier League as the side hopes to go all the way this time around.
DC head coach Jonathan Batty and skipper Lanning addressed the media on Tuesday via an online press conference days before the side opens its season against inaugural champion Mumbai Indians on February 15.
“Obviously, we’ve had two good seasons without finishing it in the way we would have liked to. The key for us is to maintain what we’ve been doing well. I think we have been playing some really good cricket and doing a lot of things right. It’s just about making a few changes here and there which will hopefully allow us to take the next step,” Lanning told reporters.
Batty too weighed in on his experiences of coaching the side in this tournament. “It’s been nice to see how our domestic players have improved every off-season. A lot of people don’t know that we run regular camps during the off-season. Players come in to do specialised work with our coaches. Then they go on to play for their states in the domestic circuit or even India. A great example would be Minnu Mani. She came to us two years ago as a raw and talented individual. Now, she has gone on to play for India. I take a lot from that, that we are developing players.”
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While the team’s WhatsApp group has helped the players keep in touch during the off-season when everyone is scattered around the globe, the training camps ahead of this campaign have helped them to get their T20 rhythm back, Lanning felt.
FILE PHOTO: Delhi Capitals’ Director of Cricket Sourav Ganguly, and head coach Jonathan Batty speaking to Alice Capsey.
| Photo Credit:
MURALI KUMAR K/THE HINDU
FILE PHOTO: Delhi Capitals’ Director of Cricket Sourav Ganguly, and head coach Jonathan Batty speaking to Alice Capsey.
| Photo Credit:
MURALI KUMAR K/THE HINDU
“We’ve had a couple of practise games which I think are really invaluable. They allow players to find their place in the team. We have a session at the stadium we will be playing at to get used to the surroundings. We feel like we’re ready, everyone’s adapted to the conditions and got back into the swing of things after a year,” the former Australia skipper said.
Vadodara’s Kotambi Stadium will be hosting the first-leg of this WPL season with a fair amount of mystery surrounding the kind of wicket it will offer. However, the Batty-coached side seems to have prepared itself for all possibilities during its camp in Pune.
“We practised on black and red soil wickets. We have covered all those bases without actually knowing what to expect from the Kotambi. The series that India played there was high scoring. We’ll be flexible and fluid and react to the thing in front of us,” the Englishman said.
With its core intact and new additions – including U-19 T20 World Cup winning captain Niki Prasad – raring to go, Delhi Capitals would hope to get its campaign up and running as it meets the Harmanpreet Kaur-led Mumbai Indians in a repeat of the 2023 final.