WPL: Gujarat Giants rope in Rachael Haynes, Nooshin Al Khadeer

Gujarat Giants, Adani Sportsline owned team in the Women’s Premier League (WPL), have named former Australia cricketer Rachael Haynes as the team’s head coach and Nooshin Al Khadeer, who coached India to a win in the inaugural ICC Women’s U19 T20 World Cup. The franchise said in a press release on Friday (February 3).

Tushar Arothe, who coached India women to the Cricket World Cup in 2017, has been roped in as the battng coach. Earlier the franchise had named former India captain Mithali Raj as a mentor and advisor to the side. They have also named Gavan Twining as the fielding coach. 

“The Women’s Premier League is such an exciting addition to the cricket landscape. The opportunity to be involved in the inaugural season with the Adani Sportline owned Gujarat Giants and work with the brilliant Mithali Raj is something I’m really looking forward to,” Haynes said.

“We have formed a wonderful coaching team, with Nooshin Al Khadeer, Tushar Arothe and Gavan Twining, who will be bringing on board their rich experience which will help the team to play an exciting brand of cricket which our fans will enjoy watching.”

Adani Sportsline won the bids to own Ahmedabad based side for a whopping 1289 cr making it the most expensive franchise in the league. The inaugural edition of the league is all set to go on floor from first week of March.

As per reports, 22 matches are going to be played with each of the five teams playing a double round-robin league before the knock out matches.  

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Indiawin Sports Pvt. Ltd’s Mumbai Indians, Delhi Capitals co-owners from the Indian Premier League (IPL) – JSW GMR Cricket Pvt. Ltd, Royal Challengers Bangalore, and Lucknow Warriors owned by Capri Global Holding Pvt. Ltd are the four other teams in the tournament.

“Not only have they carved a niche for themselves in their roles, but their stories of resilience will be an inspiration for the team. Their combined strengths will enable Adani Sportsline’s Gujarat Giants to give their best performance on the ground at the inaugural edition of the Women’s Premier League, which will inspire several aspiring women athletes,” Mithali said.

Haynes has been part of multiple world triumphs with Australia and having won both the T20 World Cup 2020 and Commonwealth Games 2022 gold, the southpaw announced her retirement from cricket during the eighth edition of the Women’s Big Bash League (WBBL).

Al Khadeer, who took 100 wickets for India in ODIs, has been part of the coaching set up in Hyderabad, Railways before taking up the job for India during the U19 T20 World Cup 2023. She also coached Supernovas – Harmanpreet Kaur led side – in the final edition of the Women’s T20 Challenge to their third trophy triumph of the tournament.