Michael Klinger replaces Rachael Haynes as Gujarat Giants' head coach

Under Haynes, Gujarat lost six of eight games and finished bottom of the five teams in the inaugural WPL

Michael Klinger has been announced as the new head coach of Gujarat Giants, replacing Rachael Haynes ahead of the 2024 Women's Premier League.

Klinger was head coach of Melbourne Renegades in the men's Big Bash for two seasons from 2019 and was assistant coach at Sydney Thunder in the WBBL last year.

The former Australian batter replaces fellow Australian batter Haynes, who lost six of her eight games and saw her franchise finished bottom of the five teams.

Giants' struggles were partly due to the loss of captain and star player Beth Mooney to injury, in the opening match of last season's tournament.

Klinger will work with bowling coach Nooshin Al Khadeer and mentor Mithali Raj, who believes that Klinger will bring out the best in the Gujarat Giants players.

Raj said: "His expertise with the bat is also well-known and will surely benefit some of the younger members of our team. We are sure of attaining success with him as head coach."

^{Gujarat Giants finished bottom in 2023 (Pankaj Nangia/Getty Images)}

Despite Giants' poor performance in the inaugural WPL, they have had an encouraging auction.

The young talent of Kashvee Gautam and Phoebe Litchfield should prove a thrilling watch with the experience of Veda Krishnamurthy, who despite having over a hundred international caps was not picked by any team last year.

They also added Scottish allrounder Kathryn Bryce, who as she represents an associate nation will allow Giants to play five overseas players in their XI.

Giants' first game is against Mumbai Indians on February 25.

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