The fourth edition of WPL 2026 is set to get underway today with the match between Mumbai Indians and Royal Challengers Bengaluru at the DY Patil Stadium in Navi Mumbai, the same venue where India won the Women's World Cup in November last year.

November 2, 2025. The day will always be etched in the history of Indian cricket in golden letters as India won the Women's ODI World Cup for the first time in history. The captain and vice-captain of that team - Harmanpreet Kaur and Smriti Mandhana - return to the venue more than two months after creating history but will play against each other in the opening game of the Women's Premier League as Mumbai Indians and Royal Challengers Bengaluru lock horns.

On the eve of the tournament opener, both Kaur and Mandhana stressed that the WPL will play a massive role if India are to lift the T20 World Cup later this year in the UK. For the unversed, the Women's T20 World Cup is set to be played from June 12 to July 5 this year. Even as they lead their respective teams in WPL 2026, both players have their eyes set on the bigger picture - the T20 World Cup in 2026. 

"Winning the T20 World Cup would be great. We won the [ODI] World Cup but there are a lot of things in the team we need to work on. We really want to sit back and say, 'yeah we are the best team in the world and world's No. 1 team'. I feel we still have a lot of things to improve on. I'm sure WPL is going to bridge that gap for us in the coming years.

"Whenever we play for India, we always discuss how we want to be the best team in the world not for one tournament or two tournaments, but the whole year - any cricket we play [we want to] dominate it. I think every WPL is just getting us closer to that," Mandhana said.

Not satisfied with just one World Cup, says Kaur

Meanwhile, Harmanpreet Kaur reiterated Smriti's views, stating that they are not just satisfied with one World Cup and are willing to win more.  "We are not satisfied with just one World Cup. We have so much cricket coming up this year and in the next two-three years, so every time we go to the field we want to go with the best mindset and that winning mindset we have been always talking about.

"It's good to see that not only us, but other players are also coming up and thinking and speaking that we want to be champions all the time. I think that shows how WPL has made a lot of impact on us," she added further.