WPL: Australian captain Meg Lanning named Delhi Capitals skipper for inaugural season
WPL: Australian Meg Lanning announced as Delhi Capitals captain
Australian captain Meg Lanning on Thursday, March 2nd was announced as the captain of the Delhi Capitals franchise in the Women’s Premier League (WPL) while India’s young gun Jemimah Rodrigues was named as her deputy. Having led the Australian women’s cricket team to four T20 World Cup titles including the recent one in South Africa, Lanning is also the most successful captain in cricket history with five ICC World Cups to her name. The right-handed Lanning arrived in Mumbai on Thursday for the maiden edition of the WPL as her side is slated to have its first match against Royal Challengers Bangalore on March 5th at the Brabourne Stadium in Mumbai.
Upon reaching, Lanning shared her thoughts on being named as the captain of the Delhi franchise saying it’s a proud moment for her to lead the side, and that she would give her best and enjoy herself in the process.
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"It's a very proud moment for me, firstly to be involved with Delhi Capitals and then to lead them. It's about enjoying yourself, getting the best out of yourself,” Lanning said.
She added saying the introduction of the WPL makes all the right sense given how the women’s cricket is moving ahead in today’s age. Lanning added saying the WPL will only grow with time and she’s very excited to get associated with something like this.
"WPL is a massive moment for the sport; it's the logical next step and makes a lot of sense. Cricket in India is people's lives and the fact that WPL is up and running, and to be involved in something like this, is amazing. It's only going to grow in the coming years," she added.
Meanwhile, Meg Lanning represented Australia in 132 T20Is, scoring 3405 runs at an average of 36.61 and a strike rate of 116.37. In addition to scoring 15 fifties in this format, Lanning also has scored two hundreds to her name. Besides, she also led Australia in over 100 T20Is – which is most by any women’s player in this format. Lanningalso happens to be the third Aussie player to be named captain of a WPL franchise after Beth Mooney (Gujarat Giants) and Alyssa Healy (UP Warriorz),whereas, Smriti Mandhana and Harmanpreet Kaur will lead Mumbai Indians and Royal Challengers Bangalore, respectively.
