NEW DELHI: UP Warriorz head coach Abhishek Nayar said on Monday that the franchise is still waiting for clearance from the BCCI's Centre of Excellence on the availability of India batter Pratika Rawal for the upcoming Women's Premier League.

The fourth edition of the WPL will be staged in two phases, with the opening leg scheduled at the DY Patil Stadium in Navi Mumbai from January 9 to 17, before the tournament moves to Vadodara for the second leg from January 19 to February 5.

Pratika has been sidelined since picking up an ankle injury during the Women's ODI World Cup last November, which forced her to miss the remainder of the competition.

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"Pratika, we (are) still... I'm not sure to be honest, but I think the NCO, the CoE, as they call it now, I think they will take a call on it," Nayar replied when asked about the availability of the Indian opener.

"But regardless, it's always exciting to have Pratika in the set-up and I feel any team is only a good team when you have contrasting players, not players who play the same style and brand of cricket," Nayar said during a press conference.

With the legendary Australian captain Meg Lanning set to lead UP Warriorz, Nayar said "best teams have best captains".

"Something that was very important when we tried to form this squad was to get the best captain out there and someone who could lead this group. It was a very easy and obvious choice for us," he said.

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"Having Meg there makes things easier for me. It's the first time (as WPL head coach) for me, yes. But I've always believed the best teams have the best captains."

"And this format, especially, is a captain's format. I wanted someone who could lead this team and having Meg there makes things very easy for me."

Nayar acknowledged that UP Warriorz, who went into the WPL auction after a major squad revamp with Shweta Sehrawat as their sole retention, are currently dealing with concerns over the availability of a specialist wicketkeeper.

"There are concerns with the wicketkeeping aspect of it. We are working our way around it. We, maybe surprise you all at the start," he said.

"For us at the end of the auction, reflecting (on it), maybe that was one aspect that we could have gotten better.

"But I also understand that sometimes in this T20 format, it's important to take chances. That's how KL Rahul became a KL Rahul. So hopefully we can form a women KL Rahul who then represents India in the future. But I think that's one area that we're working towards."

Lanning said she will be "leaning on" experienced players in her side as she takes up the new role as captain of a new franchise.

"I'm very privileged to have the opportunity to lead the squad into the new season and build on what's already been put in place," she said.

"We've obviously still got Deepti (Sharma)... Sophie Ecclestone as well, who's been around a lot. I'll be leaning on those players as well to learn as much as I can and understand what the franchise is about, but also trying to move us forward and put my own spin on it," she added.

Lanning praised India all-rounder Deepti, who was the Player of the Tournament in the Women's World Cup, for her performances.

"She's able to impact the game with both bat and ball and has really improved her game too, which is good to see. She's always been such a good player but for her to have that drive to keep getting better and want to be the best is very important to someone at this level," Lanning said.

Talking about WPL's role in the rise of Indian talent, Lanning said: "The biggest thing that I have seen is just the depth and the amount of Indian players who are able to contribute and win games for their teams," Lanning said.

"...now you have got contributions from a number of different people and they are putting pressure on the big stars which is really good to see. That creates some really good depth for Indian cricket and we have obviously seen that with the success at the World Cup."

(With PTI Inputs)