WPL: Michael Klinger replaces Rachael Haynes as Gujarat Giants head coach

Gujarat Giants, the Women's Premier League (WPL) club on Tuesday announced the appointment of Michael Klinger as the new head coach of the side for the second season of WPL, starting on 23rd of February.

He will replace fellow Australian Rachel Haynes as Giants are looking to bounce back from bottom place finish last season. He will now work alongside bowling coach Nooshin Al Khadeer and mentor Mithali Raj.

Michael is a former Australian cricketer, who also held the record for the most runs scored in the Big Bash League when he retired in 2019, he also has coaching experience as recently he was an assistant coach at Sydney Thunder at the Australian league (WBBL).

"Working with Michael will help bring out the best in the Gujarat Giants players," Mithali Raj said about the appointment. "His expertise with the bat is also well-known, and will surely benefit some of the younger members of our team. We look forward to having Klinger in the dressing room. We are sure of attaining success with him as head coach."

The announcement of Klinger as coach comes just over two weeks out ahead of the second season of WPL from February 23. Last time, Giants doesn't had a very good outing also they were missing their designated captain Beth Mooney due to injury from very early in the competition.

They had lost six of their eight games with Haynes as coach, and had finished at the bottom among the five teams. This time they has few good buys like Phoebe Litchfield who recently shows how good of a batter she is at the Indian condition. Giants' first game of WPL 2024 is on February 25 against Mumbai Indians.