India women’s T20I captain Harmanpreet Kaur is reported to have signed a contract with Lancashire Thunder to be a part of the 2018 edition of the Kia Super league as per ESPNcricinfo. While there is no formal announcement as yet, it is believed that she will leave for the UK around July 15. Kaur is the second Indian who has signed a contract in the KSL after deputy Smriti Mandhana signed a deal with defending champions Western Storm.
Former Australia vice-captain Alex Blackwell will be Kaur’s coach and having played under her earlier in the Big Bash League for Sydney Thunder, it will help Kaur acclimatise and adopt to the ways of the Lancashire unit.
Kaur is a proven T20 performer for India and led the IPL Supernovas to a win over Mandhana’s Trailblazers in the first-ever Women's T20 Challenge exhibition game in India. Mandhana was the first one to be picked for the KSL when Western Storm signed her on June 14. Kaur was set to play for Surrey last year, but she had to withdraw due to an injury.
"I am very excited to be playing for the Kia Super League champions. To be the first Indian player to appear in the tournament is a real honour and I hope that I can help Western Storm to more success," Mandhana was quoted as saying by Western Storm after the deal.
The 21-year-old India opener has scored over 826 runs with a high score of 76 in the 40 T20Is that she has played in. She has also scored 1464 runs in 41 ODIs at an average of 37.53 with a high score of 135.
In addition to her impressive international exploits, she has also featured in the Big Bash for Brisbane Heat.
"We are really excited that Smriti will be joining us. She is one of the brightest young talents in the game at the moment. Although she is still young, she has a great deal of experience of the game at the highest level and we believe that she will prove to be an excellent signing,” Western Storm head coach Trevor Griffin had said.
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