Beth Mooney of Australia has been selected captain of the Gujarat Giants in the first Women's Premier League (WPL).
Follow Us
Beth Mooney of Australia has been selected captain of the Gujarat Giants in the first Women’s Premier League (WPL). Mooney, who produced a match-winning 74 not out in Australia’s sixth Women’s T20 World Cup victory, will reconnect with former teammate and Giants head coach Rachael Haynes. Sneh Rana, an allrounder from India, has been selected vice-captain. “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 statement. “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 the WPL. It will be 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.”
Mooney was a member of Australia’s T20 World Cup winning sides in 2018 and 2020 – she has named Player of the Tournament three years ago – before also capturing the trophy in 2023, in addition to winning the ODI World Cup in 2022 and the gold medal at the CWG last year. She has also won the Women’s Big Bash League three times and is Australia’s first T20I batter with two hundreds. Mooney will be guiding a team in an international T20 league for the first time. She was London Spirit’s leading run-scorer in the women’s Hundred last year. She has only led in a few Women’s BBL games, having played for the Brisbane Heat, who has been mostly led by Kirby Short, and the Perth Scorchers, which she is captained by Sophie Devine.
Read more: ‘Bazball’: What is the England Test team’s new weapon?
Nonetheless, Rana returned to the Indian team in 2021 and participated in this year’s T20 World Cup semi-final, in which India barely lost against Australia. She represents Velocity in the Women’s T20 Challenge and has represented India in 25 T20Is, 22 ODIs, and one Test. Giants chose Mooney for INR 2 crore (about USD 244,000) and Rana for INR 75 lakh (USD 91,000 approx). On Saturday, the Giants will start off the WPL against the Mumbai Indians at the DY Patil Stadium in Navi Mumbai.
Meanwhile, Around the midway point of Australia’s T20 World Cup final triumph, Beth Mooney was so upset that she sent a message back to the dressing room demanding that coach Shelley Nitschke retire her. Kim Garth, of course, kept the request to herself, and it never made it to Australia’s head coach. Mooney was on 25 from 25 deliveries at the moment, enraged by her team’s 1-73, scared of slipping behind in setting South Africa an impossible aim on a tired Newlands pitch. Fortunately, she persevered, finishing unbeaten on 74 from 53 balls, with her stunning final-over six off Shabnim Ismail helping her team reach 6-156, a total that proved 19 runs too many for the Proteas.
