All-rounder Harmanpreet Kaur is keen to play in Women’s Big Bash League in Australia with Sydney Thunder. The girl from Punjab has her goals chalked out as she looks forward to play in Australia.

Excited as she is to play in the T20 league, Harmanpreet performed due diligence before picking the team that she did. Having the choice to pick from three teams too helped her cause, says the 27-year-old. “I had offers from three teams. Then I went through their performances, compositions and everything else. I picked Sydney Thunder because firstly they are the champions and secondly there is only one overseas player in their team – Stefanie Taylor from West Indies. The rest are players from their domestic circuit. Since the rule is that only two overseas players can play, I figured that there are higher chances of me getting an opportunity to make it to the playing eleven vis-a-vis any other team where already two overseas players have been playing. Sydney Thunder have won the title on the basis of their domestic players so they do have a good bunch. “They (BBL teams) have been following the performance of the Indian women cricketers and on the basis which they had given me an offer. I preferred Sydney Thunder also because playing with a champion team is obviously a big thing. You will meet confident and experienced players who have already won the title and playing with them will be a big thing for me.” Speaking further, Harmanpreet said, “Of course it will be a big leap for me because I was looking to play in the IPL (Indian Premier League) kind of a format. I am feeling really good because if I get a chance to be in the playing eleven and with other international players, I will get an opportunity to improve my game further. The few minor doubts and kinks that are there, I will get an opportunity to iron some of those out. “I look forward to learning and gaining experience which I will then share with my team-mates and friends here as well and contribute to Indian cricket. While we are good skill-wise, they are ahead of us in some aspects like strength and hard-hitting power. I would learn to hit the big shots. I want to understand and learn from their fitness regimes, the kind of gym training that they do etc. How they prepare themselves mentally, what kind of a set-up they have and all that. I will get to learn more about assessing the game, strategies etc. I have a couple of months to learn all.” Speaking about her own approach, Harmanpreet who likes to be in the thick of things on the field said, “People are a little defensive and I have been aggressive from the beginning. I feel that as a cricketer you have to be aggressive. There should be some aggressiveness.” She also believes that it is this approach and zest that has helped her reach this far. While mentioning that her family is overjoyed at the prospect of her playing in WBBL, she said, “Earlier my parents and brothers and everyone would say that ‘tujhe badi jaldi rehte hai khelene ki. Kya har ball ko marte rehete hai’ (You want to hit every ball). Now, they are happy because they feel that I hit hard. My approach has helped borne fruit.” The player from Punjab says that the approach is inbuilt in her. “My father was an aggressive cricketer. I would feel proud when I watched him play like that and I think that has come in me as well. I don’t know how. Luckily my first coach, Y. Sodhi was also like that. He never made me practice defense he would teach me to hit. He would say everyone can learn to defend, very few can really hit the ball hard and you practice for that. So I say that my approach is like this because of him as well.” As she gears up for her new venture, Harmanpreet is looking forward to enjoy playing the Australian conditions. “As a batswoman it is good because you get to play on hard wickets which you don’t get here. As a hard-hitter of the ball I like playing there. I have liked playing the Australian conditions from the beginning and the atmosphere there and all of that,” she concludes.