Five-time IPL champions Mumbai Indians will wear Women's Premier League jersey in their face-off against the Kolkata Knight Riders at the Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai later on Sunday. It is pertinent to note that the match will be played on the Education and Sports for All (ESA) Day, an initiative by the Reliance Foundation. As part of this initiative, 19,000 girls are expected to be in attendance for MI's fixture against the Nitish Rana-led side.
"Mumbai Indians have been fantastic in creating this initiative and hopefully, it’s going to go out to the rest of the world. The biggest lesson is that they will take away from this game as well is that seeing sports and inspiring them to be able to play sport at a professional level one day," the franchise's head coach Mark Boucher says in a video posted by the franchise.
"Definitely, it's going to motivate them and encourage them. In the future, we will see a lot of girls coming into the sport," MI's WPL bowling coach and mentor Jhulan Goswami said.
In addition, the inaugural WPL champion side Mumbai Indians led by their captain Harmanpreet Kaur are expected to be in attendance for this IPL 2023 clash between Mumbai and Kolkata. As far as MI's performance in the ongoing season is concerned, the team has featured in 3 matches so far and registered just a solitary win. They will be up against a side which has played 4 matches in the season, winning two and losing the other two matches.
While the Blue and Gold Brigade are currently ranked ninth on the table with only Delhi Capitals who are yet to taste a win below them. KKR, by contrast, are at the fifth place. In what could be a big blow to the home team for this game, MI could continue to be without Jofra Archer who sustained an injury in the team's first match.