Beth Mooney named captain of Women T20 League side Gujarat

Australia batter Beth Mooney has been assigned captain of Gujarat for the inaugural Women’s T20 League. Money, who scored a match defining unbeaten 74 in Australia’s six Women’s World T20 cup win, will share the dressing room with former teammate Rachel Hatnes, Gujarat’s head coach. India all rounder Sneh Rana has been named Mooney’s deputy. 

"I am delighted to be given the opportunity to lead Gujarat in the historic Women's T20 League's inaugural edition in 2023," Mooney said in a statement. "The squad is keen to get the ball rolling soon and put out an entertaining and effective brand of cricket in the debut season of the Women’s T20 League. It will be fantastic to have the likes of Sneh as my deputy and Mithali Raj, Rachael Haynes and Nooshin Al Khadeer as pivotal parts of the team."

Money was a vital cog in Australia’s world cup winning campaigns in 2018 and 2020- where she was adjourned the player of the tournament- before 2023, besides from winning the ODI World series in 2022 and the gold medal at the Commonwealth Games last year. She has also won the Women’s Aus T20 League thrice and is the only Australia batter to register two T20I tons. 

This will be the first instance when Mooney will lead a side in an overseas T20 League.She was the highest scorer for London in the women’s Hundred last year. She has only led on a few occasions at the Women’s Aus T20 League, having played for Brisbane, which has been vastly led by Kirby Short and Perth led by Sophie Devine.