India women’s vice-captain Smriti Mandhana feels that the Women’s Premier League (WPL) is steadily creating a similar ripple effect on women’s cricket as the Indian Premier League (IPL) did for men’s cricket since its inception in 2008.

The elegant left-handed opener pointed out at the WPL, which started in 2023, has infused a sense of aspiration among young girls which she feels is an encouraging sign for the future of women’s cricket in the country.

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“For sure, in the last three years, we have seen the way WPL has grown as well, and the amount of girls coming out to watch WPL matches. I think 4-5 years back you would see a lot of guys watching games in the stands. But now I think we see a clear shift in a lot of even girls coming to watch games,” she said.

“Like, small girls (are) coming up to us as well, and saying that we aspire to be cricketers, which is a really nice thing. WPL for sure has played a major impact in terms of the way I think T20 cricket has reached, and the entertainment value it definitely gets. What IPL has done for men’s cricket over the last 17 years, I am sure WPL has just started to do that,” Smriti told a select group of media hosted by Cricket Predicta, on the sidelines of launching City Cricket Academy in Dubai,” she added.

Ever since the WPL’s inception, there’s been a growing interest among young girls to take up cricket, with academies in both big cities and smaller towns seeing a spike in enrolments. Smriti, who already operates a training centre in her hometown of Sangli, Maharashtra, also outlined her development plans for budding talent at her newly launched academy in Dubai.

“We see a lot more involvement, not only in the cities where WPL teams are. It even comes from other cities that don’t have WPL teams. But we see a lot of impact in the domestic circuit as well in terms of the way the girls want to build on their game so that they get a chance to play WPL or international cricket, which is great,” she said.

“This is only going to help in terms of having proper facilities in terms of academies, and that’s what my conversation with Don (Anshuman Bhagwati, Academy Director) was in terms of the academy, that definitely the academy is for everyone. But we really want to focus on how we can develop women’s cricket, in terms of overall development and not just on skills.”

“I think a lot of academies do focus a lot on skills. But we really want to give programs in terms of how we can develop their personal strength, and conditioning. So that whenever they leave the academy, they can be like a final product,” she added.

Smriti, who is set to feature in India’s upcoming ODI tri-series in Sri Lanka from April 27 to May 11, also involving South Africa, as part of preparations for the upcoming women’s ODI World Cup in India, later this year, also highlighted the growing emphasis on nutrition in women’s cricket, and shared her vision to mentor young cricketers on the importance of proper nutrition at her Dubai academy.

“I feel even if the nutrition is right, which we didn’t know when we were growing up (in terms of) what to eat or not, as we used to eat a lot of junk food and whatever was there, if it’s started at the right age, it does play a huge part. So for sure we will have nutritionists in place and we will try and guide the players whoever in terms wants to have it also because nutrition is a very personal choice,” she said.