Gujarat Giants has spent more than anybody else to own a Women’s Premier League team. That is because the owners, Adani Sportsline, believe the league’s potential to grow is enormous.
“This is going to be one of the best properties as far as women’s sports is concerned,” Satyam Trivedi, head of Adani Sports, said during an interaction here on Monday. “That is why we put in the kind of money we did, 33% more than the second highest bidder.”
He said the WPL had already become the talk of the town. “The number of people coming to the ground has been encouraging,” he said. “It is already doing well, but it will go to another level in the next two or three years.”
Trivedi believes the WPL will encourage other women’s sports to look at having similar leagues. “Sports like football and kabaddi, for instance,” he said. “And not just India, but across the globe.”
Giants hasn’t had a great time on the field so far, though. It has won just one game and lost three. The team’s mentor and former India captain Mithali Raj said it wasn’t the start the team wanted.
“The tournament is still wide open,” she said. “We still have a chance to get into the top three. We have had some injuries.”
Captain and the team’s main batter Beth Mooney could only bat for three balls in the league before she got injured. Her former Australian teammate and now coach of Giants, Rachael Haynes, said she was confident of the side’s chances.
“Our future is still in our own hands,” Haynes said. “Our batting hasn’t quite clicked as a team. From our point of view, we have to make sure we have some really good partnerships so that we capitalise in the death overs. When you have set batters at the death, it is difficult to shut them down.”
Gujarat’s next match is against the table-topper Mumbai Indians, on Tuesday.
