"Tournaments like this will speed that up a fair bit" - Meg Lanning on WPL closing the gap between Australia and other teams

Australian women's team captain Meg Lanning believes that the emergence of the Women's Premier League (WPL) will make the international arena much more competitive. The Women in Yellow currently hold both world titles and have not been met with much resistance in the process.

Lanning recently led the Delhi Capitals (DC) to the finals of the inaugural WPL season, where they came up short against eventual winners Mumbai Indians (MI). DC were defeated by seven wickets by the Harmanpreet Kaur-led side at the Brabourne Stadium on Sunday, March 26.

Despite the loss, the veteran skipper had a prolific tournament with the bat. She was the leading run scorer in the WPL with 345 runs and won the Orange Cap for her efforts as well.

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Expressing her desire to prolong her career to witness the dramatic shift in women's cricket driven by the WPL, Lanning told the BBC podcast Stumped:

“Hopefully this is just the start and there’s a lot bigger things to come which is really exciting. I can’t see any reason why I can’t play for four or five more years, it is just whether that is something I want to do.I haven’t thought too much. But especially with new opportunities like the WPL coming up, you really want to be part of that."

She continued:

“We’ve worked really hard over a long period of time to get the game into a good spot now, and hopefully it continues to grow. I want to be part of it for a little bit longer.”

Lanning took a four-month sabbatical from cricket after the team's triumph at the Commonwealth Games in Birmingham. She missed the last edition of The Hundred, before returning for the home series against Pakistan.

According to her, the WPL will also bridge the gap between Australia and other countries on the international circuit, which she counts as a massive perk.

Stating that Australia's mentality will remain the same amid the growth of other sides, she said:

"Tournaments like this will speed that up a fair bit. As an Australian team we think it is important the global game is growing. It is not just about us winning all the time. We want to win all the time. There’s no doubt about that, but there is more at play that just that.”

"I’m looking forward to playing in front of home fans in Delhi in years to come" - Meg Lanning

The inaugural edition of the WPL was confined to just two venues in the form of the Brabourne Stadium and the DY Patil Stadium in Mumbai.

However, with the first season being a resounding success, the home and away format, much like the IPL, is likely to be instated in the WPL as well from next year. Lanning said: