WBBL 2021: Melbourne Renegades rope in star batter Harmanpreet Kaur for fresh season

The WBBL 2021 is all set to begin from mid-October and franchises are doing their best to develop a star-studded squad. In the latest turn of events, India’s T20I skipper Harmanpreet Kaur has signed up for Melbourne Renegades ahead of the fresh season. Her signing comes just after Renegades announced their signing for India’s young sensation Jemimah Rodrigues.

Kaur expressed her immense happiness in joining the squad and added that it has always been her pleasure to play in WBBL. She added that she is looking forward to playing some quality cricket which was halted for a long time due to the COVID-19 scare.

She has had a fine experience of playing BBL with Sydney Thunder earlier. In fact, in 2016, she became the first Indian cricketer to be signed by a foreign T20 franchise as Thunder roped in her for the 2016-17 WBBL season. Talking about her stint in WBBL so far, she has played 35 matches with Thunder with 716 runs under her belt with an unbeaten knock of 64 being her highest score. She has also picked 12 wickets for the franchise.

Melbourne Renegades announce the signing of Harmanpreet Kaur

One of the most destructive batters in world cricket.@ImHarmanpreet is a Renegade.#GETONRED

— Renegades WBBL (@RenegadesWBBL) September 29, 2021

Talking about her international career, she got ruled out of the ODI series during India women’s tour of Australia due to her thumb injury. However, she is expected to make a comeback in the one-off Test and T20I series. In the same light, former skipper Shantha Rangaswamy made a remark on her in the context of playing overseas leagues.

“She had come from the hundred injured, before that she got injured during the South Africa series at home. If she is prone to injuries, then she should avoid playing overseas leagues and prioritize playing for India. She is an impact player and the team needs her. The BCCI can step in and stop players from playing in leagues ahead of important tours like Australia,” said Shantha as quoted by news 18.

Now, it remains to be seen how Jemimah Rodrigues and Kaur will make their impact in the upcoming games against Australia, the Test match will begin on September 30.