WPL: Rachael Haynes joins Gujarat Giants as head coach

Rachael Haynes has been appointed head coach of Women's Premier League team Gujarat Giants, who have also bolstered their support staff roster with Nooshin Al Khadeer as bowling coach, Tushar Arothe as batting coach, and Gavan Twining as fielding coach. Mithali Raj had earlier been signed up to be the team's mentor and advisor.

"The likes of Rachael Haynes, Nooshin Al Khadeer, Tushar Arothe, and Gavan Twining will certainly take the performance of the team notches up," Raj said in a statement released by the franchise. "Not only have they carved a niche for themselves in their roles, but their stories of resilience will [also] be an inspiration for the team."

Haynes, who retired as a player late last year after a glittering international, domestic and club career, won six world titles with Australia, and was the vice-captain of the team from 2017 to 2022. For Australia, she played six Tests where she had 383 runs at an average of 34.81, 77 ODIs where she scored 2585 runs at 39.76, and 84 T20Is with 850 runs at a strike rate of 117.72.

Al Khadeer, apart from being at the helm when Supernovas had won the Women's T20 Challenge in 2022, was the coach of the India team that won the women's Under-19 World Cup in South Africa earlier this week. An offspinner during her playing days, Al Khadeer played five Tests, 78 ODIs and two T20Is, picking up 115 wickets overall.

And Arothe, a Baroda batting allrounder who played 114 first-class matches in a career of close to two decades, was the head coach of the India women's national team for just over a year in 2017-18, before stepping down following reports of strong differences with some of the players. Twining, meanwhile, has been a part of the coaching circuit in Australia for a while, and most recently served as head coach of New South Wales women's side in the Australian domestic set-up.

The WPL is likely to be played between March 4 and March 24, between the Women's T20 World Cup that ends in late February and the men's IPL that is set to start one week after the women's competition.

WPL's player auction, expected in just over a week's time, will have auction purses of INR 12 crore (USD 1.46 million approx.) per team. Each sude can buy a minimum of 15 and a maximum of 18 players, including seven overseas ones, of which one must be from an Associate country. Unlike in the men's IPL, WPL teams will have the option of fielding up to five overseas players in the XI, provided, again, that one is from an Associate team.

A total of 22 matches will be played in WPL 2023, with each franchise playing the other twice to make it a total of eight games per team. The top-ranked side will enter the final directly, while the second- and third-placed teams will face off in a qualifier to determine the second finalist.