Mumbai: Australia’s multiple World Cups-winning skipper Meg Lanning was Thursday appointed as the captain of the Delhi Capitals side ahead of the inaugural edition of the Women’s Premier League (WPL).
At an event organised by the franchise here, India’s top-order batter Jemimah Rodrigues was named as vice-captain of the franchise. Meg, a premier right-handed batter, had recently led Australia to their third straight ICC Women’s T20 World Cup title in South Africa.
She also became the first cricketer to lead the side in 100 T20Is, through the 19-run win over hosts South Africa in the final of 2023 Women’s T20 World Cup at Newlands, Cape Town.
With the title win at Cape Town, Meg also overtook Ricky Ponting for the captain with the greatest number of ICC titles. She had previously captained Australia to 2014, 2018 and 2020 T20 World Cup wins and 2022 ODI World Cup title, apart from a gold medal in the 2022 Commonwealth Games.
Lanning is the third Australia player to lead a WPL team, with Beth Mooney captaining Gujarat Giants’ captain and Alyssa Healy being the skipper of UP Warriorz. Mumbai Indians will be led by India captain Harmanpreet Kaur and Royal Challengers by her national team deputy, Smriti Mandhana.
Delhi Capitals will be opening their WPL 2023 campaign on March 5 against Royal Challengers Bangalore at the Brabourne Stadium in Mumbai.
Delhi Capitals squad: Meg Lanning (captain), Jemimah Rodrigues (vice-captain), Alice Capsey, Shikha Pandey, Jess Jonassen, Laura Harris, Radha Yadav, Shafali Verma, Marizanne Kapp, Taniyaa Bhatia, Poonam Yadav, Sneha Deepthi, Arundhati Reddy, Titas Sadhu, Minnu Mani, Jasia Akhter, Tara Norris, and Aparna Mondal.
IANS