MUMBAI: Team India Twenty20 captain Harmanpreet Kaur will represent Sydney Thunder for two more seasons in the Women’s Big Bash League.
Kaur, the first Indian woman cricketer to participate in a T20 league abroad, was named the team’s Player of the Tournament in her first year with them in 2016-17 for her 256 runs in 13 matches. Kaur will join Australia internationals Alex Blackwell and Rachael Haynes at Thunder. New Zealand’s Rachel Priest is the other foreign player in their side.
Veda Krishnamurthy will be the other Indian at WBBL this year, representing Hobart Hurricanes at the WBBL that starts on December 9. Both players will miss India’s senior one-day domestic tournament, which starts on December 6.
Kaur was one of only three players to have smashed ten-plus sixes, and remained unbeaten seven times in 12 innings, Wisden India notes. In the last round of league matches, she put in her best performance of the season, smashing 64 not out off just 37 balls with six sixes and one four. During the Women’s World Cup semifinal against Australia this year, she scored 171 not out in 115 balls.
“Following the Women’s World Cup, Harmanpreet was the hottest property in cricket,” said Lee Germon, the Sydney Thunder general manager. “She showed during that tournament and through her performances with the Thunder, that she is one of, if not the most, destructive batters in the game at the moment. She will bring her match winning qualities to our side and I am sure our fans will enjoy watching her play once again in Thunder colours.”
However, they are also unlikely to feature in the WBBL knockouts, should their teams qualify, as India are set to travel to South Africa for a series of three One-Day Internationals and five T20 Internationals from February 5.
