Delhi Capitals announced here on Thursday that Meg Lanning would be its captain in the Women’s Premier League. If the franchise had chosen anyone else, it would have been the biggest shock of the WPL, even before the tournament has started.
Lanning is in a league of her own as captain in women’s cricket. When she led Australia to victory at the Women’s T20 World Cup in Cape Town last Sunday, she was winning an ICC trophy for the fifth time, beating the record of compatriot Ricky Ponting, who led the men’s team to four titles.
She said she was looking forward to the challenge of leading Capitals. “It’s going to be exciting and hopefully we can do well,” she said. “The first step is to make the final and hopefully go on from there.”
Lanning believes one of the challenges of being captain in a tournament like the WPL is to bring out the best from everyone, not just international players.
“I will lean on Jemimah Rodrigues and Shafali Verma to bring all that together,” she said. “It is a great opportunity for the youngsters to play alongside their heroes like Jemi and Shafali.”
Talking of Shafali, she said she wanted to bat alongside the aggressive India opener and see her dominate.
“I can’t wait to stand at the other end and watch her whack other teams around the park instead of having to stand in the field, which I have done for a few years,” she laughed.
