Harmanpreet on ‘winning mindset’ as MI begin WPL title defence as coach Keightley looks to nurture domestic players.
Harmanpreet Kaur wants to leave a legacy of a “winning mindset” and has set her sights on another WPL trophy after leading India women to their first World Cup victory last year.
Before leading India to the World Cup, Harmanpreet had guided MI to two WPL victories in three seasons. She credited her tenure with the team—with whom she has been since the first WPL season in 2023—for her winning mentality.
“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.”
“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 places a high value on staff stability. But they had to change their coaching staff after Charlotte Edwards, the current head coach of England, left. Former Delhi Capitals (DC) assistant coach Lisa Keightley is now leading MI. Her all-female coaching staff includes spin-bowling coach Kristen Beams, batting coach Devika Palshikar, fielding coach Nicole Bolton, and mentor and bowling coach Jhulan Goswami.
“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.”