Beth Mooney of Australia has been elected as the captain of the Gujarat Giants, which is owned by the Adani Group. Sneh Rana of India has been named vice-captain of the team ahead of the first season of the Women’s Premier League (WPL 2023), which starts on March 4.
Mooney, who is regarded as one of the best wicket-keeper-batters in the game, helped Australia win the 2022 Women’s ODI World Cup, the Women’s T20 World Cup, the 2020 and 2023 ICC Women’s T20 World Cups, and the gold medal at the Birmingham 2022 Commonwealth Games.
Mooney will re-join with her old teammate Rachael Haynes, the head coach of the Giants after she hit the game-winning run of 74 runs without being out in Australia’s sixth Women’s T20 World Cup victory.
Mooney stated, “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(WPL 2023). 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.”
Let’s have a look at the facts backing Mooney as the right choice to be named as the captain of the team in WPL 2023:
A player in big tournaments
In addition to winning the ODI World Cup in 2022 and the gold medal at the Commonwealth Games last year, Mooney was a member of Australia’s T20 World Cup-winning sides in 2018 and 2020. Three years ago, she was named Player of the Tournament. Mooney again lifted the trophy in 2023. She is the only batter from Australia with two T20I hundreds and has won three Women’s Big Bash League championships.
Mooney will be taking on the role of team captain for the first time in an international T20 league. She led London Spirit in runs scored during the women’s Hundred last year. She has played for Perth Scorchers, whose captain is Sophie Devine, and Brisbane Heat, whose main leader has been Kirby Short, in the Women’s Big Bash League, where she has only captained in a few games.
The experience she brings to the table
Beth Mooney, who made her international debut back in 2016, is a seasoned campaigner who will have a good understanding of how to approach the responsibility. Talking about white-ball cricket, other than the shortest form, she has herself featured in 4 tests and 57 ODIs.
She is one of the most dependable players on the Australian side and has played in more than 83 games and amassed 2,350 runs in her career in the shortest format of the game, including 74-run innings that earned her the “Player of the Match” title in the Women’s T20 World Cup 2023 final.
Mooney, who has two centuries to her record and 17 half-centuries, is one of the few hitters in the T20 format to have scored multiple hundreds.
Outstanding leadership skills
Mooney has received recognition for her outstanding leadership abilities, which have been demonstrated in her capacity to successfully guide her squad on the field. She has a solid grasp of the game, and her teammates appreciate her for maintaining her composure under pressure.
The in-form momentum
Beth Mooney is in fantastic form moving into the first WPL after putting up a match-winning performance in the World Cup Final just last week. She came in third on the list of World Cup highest run scorers, which will serve her well mentally going into what will undoubtedly be a stressful tournament.
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