Delhi Capitals’ skipper Meg Lanning on Tuesday hoped explosive India opener Shafali Varma will carry her recent rich vein of form in domestic cricket into the third season of the Women’s Premier League starting on Friday. Shafali, who was dropped from the Indian team for the away tour to Australia in November 2024, made excellent outings for Haryana in domestic matches recently to signal her return to run-making ways. “She looks like she’s in really good touch and enjoying herself and having fun too, which I think is really important. For me, just watching her play with freedom, express herself, (and) when she does that, that plays a really important role for our team,” Lanning said during the pre-tournament press meet of the Capitals.
Shafali was the top run-getter in the Senior Women’s One Day Trophy, scoring 527 runs at an average of 75.29 while in the Senior Women’s One Day Challenger Trophy the right-hander made 414 runs at an average of 82.80.
On both the occasions, she made runs at a strike-rate close to 150.
“She did a very similar thing a few days ago in our practice game. She often puts on a very entertaining show and I’ve got the best seat in the house. I always enjoy batting with her. We get on really well and hopefully this season can continue on from where we have been the first two,” Lanning added.
Like her opening partner, Lanning also coming to the WPL 2025 without any substantial match-time experience having retired from international cricket last year.
So, how has she managed to keep in touch with the game? “I’ve been playing some games for Victoria in the WNCL (Women’s National Cricket League). I think playing matches is important.
There’s nothing quite like being out in the middle and being in a good rhythm with that.
“So, I feel like those games are great for me in that respect. I feel like I’m in a good spot with my game.” Lanning said her past experiences of playing in India will help her in the WPL.
“I always enjoy playing and batting over here in India. I’ve had some success in the past. And yeah, so far with the couple of days I’ve been here, it’s been nice to just get used to the conditions and just be really clear on what my plan is and how I want to go about it.” In fact, all the teams and players will have to do quick acclimatisation because the WPL will be played across four venues — Vadodara, Bengaluru, Lucknow and Mumbai — for the first time.
Lanning relishes the challenge. “We were really lucky with the practice facility we had in Pune (during DC training camp). We practiced on black soil wickets and red soil wickets. So, we’re trying to cover all those bases without really knowing necessarily what we’re going to find.
“The stadium here in the Kotambi (Vadodara), it’s a fantastic wicket. Obviously, the Indian women played a series here recently that was really high scoring. So, I expect the wickets to be fantastic from that angle.” The former Australian captain said players will have to remain flexible with their approach considering they will be playing in new venues.
“As always with cricket, it’s only when the players step out onto them, they really know what they’re going to do.
“You’ve got to stay flexible, stay fluid with your thinking and react to what’s in front of you. But it’s really exciting to have these new venues on the calendar,” she added.
On the flip side, the Capitals will miss playing in front of home crowd this season, but Lanning is not overly perturbed.
“There’s no doubt we love playing in front of our home fans in Delhi. It’s unfortunate that we don’t get to do that this year. But I think anywhere that we’ve gone so far with WPL, there’s been excellent crowds and a great atmosphere.
“We just try and embrace that and enjoy that and really just sort of take that in our stride. It (not playing at home venue) hasn’t been something that we’ve talked about too much at all) or that will worry us. I think we’re happy to play wherever we need to,” she said.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
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