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Women's Premier League: Veteran Mithali Raj joins Gujarat Giants as mentor and advisor

New Delhi, IndiaEdited By: Gautam SodhiUpdated: Jan 28, 2023, 08:21 PM IST
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Photograph:(AFP)

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With nearly 8000 runs in Women's ODI cricket to her, Mithali is still the highest run-scorer despite announcing her retirement last year after serving the country for more than two decades.

In first of many firsts in regards to the Women’s Premier League (WPL), veteran India women's cricketer Mithali Raj has joined Gujarat Giants team as a mentor and advisor. Pranav Adani, the Managing Director at the Adani Groups informed everyone about the same via twitter saying, “Adani Sportsline’s is jubilant to have on board Padma Shri and former Indian captain of the women’s national #cricket team, Mithali Raj as a mentor & advisor for the women’s premier league. We all are looking forward to scoring some great innings with this partnership.”

Mithali, who had led the Indian women’s cricket on her shoulders for nearly two decades, said this WPL will be the biggest game-changer in the women’s cricket, and that she can ‘t wait for the tournament to begin.

“The Women's Premier League will be the biggest game-changer women's cricket has seen. Thank you so much @PranavAdani for this wonderful opportunity to mentor a side in the inaugural edition of this historic tournament. Can't wait to get started! 🏏 #WPL

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This comes after the first-ever women’s team's auction that was held by the BCCI on Wednesday, January 25th, that created history by surpassing the bidding value of the inaugural edition of the men’s IPL in 2008, by touching the 4000-crore mark this time. The rise in the value during the WPL teams bidding, show how far can women’s cricket go with the commencement of this league, that was on radar for a few years now.

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Meanwhile, the five successful bidders for the inaugural season of WPL are - Adani Sportsline Pvt Ltd (Ahmedabad), Indiawin Sports Pvt Ltd (Mumbai), and Royal Challengers Sports Pvt. Ltd (Bangalore), JSW GMR Cricket Pvt Ltd (Delhi) and Capri Global Holdings Pvt Ltd. (Lucknow). Whereas the Adani Group bought the Ahmedabad franchise at the WPL teams auction at the bid worth Rs 1,289 crores – that was also the highest. Their Gujarat Giants cricket franchise joins the Gulf Giants in the DP World ILT20 and the Gujarat Giants in the Pro Kabaddi League.

With the dates of the players auction and beginning of the WPL are yet to be out, the craze around the women’s revolution in cricket is higher than ever.