The inaugural season of the Women's Premier League is set to kick-start on the 4th of March with five teams competing for the title. The Gujarat Giants franchise has announced its captain for the upcoming season. Star player Beth Mooney who was recently a part of the T20 World Cup-winning team Australia, is set to lead Gujarat. On the other hand, India's Sneh Rana is named the vice-captain.
Money scored an unbeaten 74 off 53 balls in the final of the Women's T20 World Cup and was also adjudged player of the match for the innings.
“I am delighted to be given the opportunity to lead the Adani Gujarat Giants in the historic Women’s Premier League’s inaugural edition in 2023," Mooney said in a release.
“The squad is keen to get the ball rolling soon and put out an entertaining and effective brand of cricket in the debut season of WPL which will hopefully lead us to the trophy. It will be absolutely fantastic to have the likes of Sneh as my deputy and Mithali Raj, Rachael Haynes, and Nooshin Al Khadeer as pivotal parts of the team," she added.
Three out of the five teams participating have declared their captains and they are as follows:
- RCB: Smriti Mandhana
- GG: Beth Mooney
- UPW: Alyssa Healy
- MI: Yet to announce
- DC: Yet to announce
Mooney's highest score in T20s is an unbeaten 117. In her career, she has smashed 18 half-centuries in the 83 T20 games she played and has scored 2,350 runs.
Vice-captain Rana has played 25 games in T20Is and has scalped 24 wickets with an economy rate of 6.21.
“Being the vice-captain of the Gujarat Giants is a huge responsibility and I am keenly looking forward to putting up a great show for the debut edition of the Women’s Premier League,” said Rana.
“Along with captain Beth Mooney, I hope to lead a strong and talented squad during the tournament.
All the matches of WPL will be played in Mumbai. In the first match of the season, Gujarat Giants and Mumbai Indians will face each other.
