Bengaluru (Karnataka): Gujarat Giants on Wednesday announced that Australian batter Beth Mooney will captain the team and Indian all-rounder Sneh Rana will be her deputy. They will be part of the leadership group with head coach Michael Klinger, mentor and advisor Mithali Raj, and assistant coach Nooshin Al Khadeer.
Mooney was appointed captain of Gujarat Giants in the inaugural season of Women's Premier League (WPL). However, she had to leave the tournament after the first game due to an injury. Mooney is one of the best batters in T20Is. In addition to being part of the team that won the T20 World Cup in 2014, 2018, 2020 and 2023, she was also in the squad that won the 2022 ODI World Cup and Gold at the 2022 Commonwealth Games in Birmingham.
Despite being in the 2014 T20 World Cup-winning squad, she did not make her international debut for Australia till January 2016. In December 2017, she won both the inaugural ICC T20I Player of the Year and Emerging Player of the Year awards. Her 24 half-centuries is the second-most by a batter in T20I cricket and she was also the fastest women's cricketer to reach 2,000 runs in the shortest format of the game.
Rana, an off-break bowler and a right-handed batter, is one of India's top cricketers. She made her ODI and T20I debut against Sri Lanka in 2014, and in Tests against England in 2021. In season 1 of the WPL, she was named the skipper of Gujarat Giants following Mooney’s injury, and bagged six wickets in seven innings. She was part of the team that won Silver for India at the 2022 Commonwealth Games.
“I am delighted to be back with Gujarat Giants and grateful for the team’s trust in me. We have a fantastic squad, and I am confident we will put up a good show. It is good WPL will be played in Bengaluru and New Delhi, which are new to the tournament,” Mooney was quoted as saying in media statement.
“The second season of WPL will be another festival of cricket. That Beth is back as skipper is fantastic news, and I will do everything I can to support her. The squad is well-balanced, and we are in a good place as a team,” said Rana.
Gujarat Giants will open its campaign at the M Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bengaluru against Mumbai Indians on 25 February.
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