WPL has done wonders for women’s football in India: Jess Jonassen

Australian cricketer who won the World Cup Jess Jonassenwho spoke on ABC-International Development’s Cricket Commentary and Mojo program, believes Indian women’s football has evolved leaps and bounds over the years, with a resolute focus on improving local players.

The cricket rivalry between India and Australia is a long-running rivalry in every format of the game. India captain Harmanpreet Kaur, before his departure T20 World CupHe also spoke about this at the pre-match conference: “They know India is one of the teams that can challenge them.” I think that’s a really positive sign. When we play against them, we know we can beat them any day, any time.”

India lost to Australia in the final of the 2020 T20 World Cup, but India’s growing popularity in women’s football was already evident. Jess Jonassen, who has some fond memories of the match against India, traveled down memory lane to share a memory from Baroda a few years before the T20 World Cup in Australia. “13,000 people came to our game, but it felt like 1,30,000. Some of the girls had never experienced this kind of support before. It just helped us understand how seriously India takes women’s cricket.”

“We won the game but from that moment on the support for the Indian team really increased. We could see the passion among the people. It went from there.” WPL has done wonders for women’s football in India and the world. I’m really excited to be part of it. It is also very encouraging to see how much homegrown talent there is in India and how the local players have improved. In fact, it’s similar to what WBBL did for us at home. Confrontation with difficult situations – large crowds, appearance on television, more presence through media operations. There was a lot of positive input and all the extra things helped the sportswomen overcome the high-pressure situations,” said Jess Jonassen during an interaction on ABC-International Development’s cricket commentary and Mojo program.

India will begin their campaign against New Zealand in the T20 World Cup, scheduled to be held in the United Arab Emirates, on October 4.