India’s T20I skipper, Harmanpreet Kaur and her deputy Smriti Mandhana will be heading back to Australia to participate in the fourth edition of the Women’s Big Bash League (WBBL). Harmanpreet has been got back by Sydney Thunder, having finished as the franchise’ leading run-scorer in the second season with 296 from 12 innings at an average of 59 and strike-rate of 117. She is also the first Indian cricketer to appear in the WBBL and she was named Thunder’s Player of the Tournament.
Harmanpreet is India’s top-ranked player in the ICC Women’s T20I batting rankings, at the sixth position. In 93 career T20 matches, she has scored 1886 runs and taken 25 wickets. In the recent Women’s World T20 where India crashed out at the semi-final stage, Harman amassed a memorable century in their opening game of the tournament. She finished with 183 runs at 45.75 and a strike-rate of 160.52.
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Mandhana has signed with Hobart Hurricanes having previously played for Brisbane Heat in the WBBL’s second season. She has had a successful 2018, ending the Kia Super League as the highest run-scorer with a tally of as many as 421 runs in just 10 matches with her highest score being 72. During the Women’s World T20, Mandhana finished with 178 runs at 35.6 and a strike-rate of 125.35 as she played a career-best knock of 83 against the eventual winners Australia.
Smriti’s maiden ODI century came at Blundstone Arena in 2016 in Tasmania, where she will be heading. Describing the same, she said, “I’ve heard from many players that the Hurricanes group is a great squad to be around and I can’t wait to get to Tasmania for the matches.” While, the Hurricanes’ coach Salliann Briggs said: “Mandhana is a proven performer on the world stage, we saw that just last week with her knock against the Aussies. I can’t wait to see her in purple, she’s an exciting addition not only for us but for the whole competition.”
Both Harmanpreet and Mandhana were named in the ICC’s team of the Women’s World T20 this week.
