“Meg Lanning aur Kapp”: Jasia Akhter shortlists two players she’s excited to meet during WPL 2023

Delhi Capitals batter Jasia Akhter is looking forward to meet Australia captain Meg Lanning and South Africa all-rounder Marizanne Kapp during the upcoming inaugural season of Women’s Premier League.

Akhtar, who belongs to Jammu & Kashmir but plies her trade for Rajasthan as a captain in the domestic circuit, is going to be one of the many uncapped Indian cricketers who will get an opportunity of rubbing shoulders with several overseas stars during WPL 2023.

Ideally, the tournament should’ve already been started by now. A clear-cut case of “better late than never”, WPL’s commencement will be a dream-come-true moment in the lives of numerous female Indian cricketers. While the financial aspect has already changed lives for some of them, getting to learn from global superstars will aid these players in further improving their game.

Jasia Akhter shortlists two players she’s excited to meet during WPL 2023

Much like players of the other teams, Capitals have also started welcoming their cricketers with less a week remaining for the start of the tournament. Akhter, who reported at Delhi’s camp, featured in one of the pre-season videos where she narrated how she had switched off her phone at the time her name was called out during the WPL auction earlier this month.

“I was watching the auction but turned it off when it was my turn. I even switched off my phone for 15 minutes. When I turned it on, my brother was the first one to call me. He congratulated me but I couldn’t believe it. He then shared a video as a confirmation. I spoke to my parents afterwards, they were very happy,” Akhter said in a video posted by Delhi Capitals across their social media handles.

“I am excited [the most] to meet Meg Lanning and [Marizanne] Kapp,” Akhter added. Interestingly, both Lanning and Kapp will be playing for Australia and South Africa respectively during ICC Women’s T20 World Cup 2023 in Cape Town today.

Six-time World Cup winner, Lanning has led Australia thrice and once to T20 World Cup and Women’s Cricket World Cup titles respectively. Kapp, meanwhile, will be playing her 225th international match at Newlands on Sunday.

Jasia Akhter T20 record

It is worth mentioning that Akhter is yet to make her T20 debut as domestic Women’s T20s aren’t counted as T20s. As far as domestic T20s and one-day matches are concerned, the right-handed batter has a century and a couple of half-centuries in her last 10 innings across both the white-ball formats.