WPL 2026: Beating teams led by Indian captains will be extra motivation, says Ashleigh Gardner ahead of Giants' opener

Navi Mumbai, Jan 10 While heaping praise on the Indian women's team for its recent upsurge leading to the sensational victory in the 50-over World Cup, Australian star Ashleigh Gardner, the captain of Gujarat Giants, said beating teams led by Indian players is extra motivation for her because of the popularity they enjoy at home.

Gardner, however, will have to wait a bit to achieve her aim of winning against an Indian captain as her team, the Gujarat Giants, will open its campaign in the Women's Premier League (WPL) 2026 against UP Warriorz, who will be led by Gardner's former captain Meg Lanning, at the DY Patil Stadium in Navi Mumbai on Saturday.

With three of the five teams in WPL -- Mumbai Indians (Harmanpreet Kaur, Royal Challengers Bengaluru (Smriti Mandhana) and Delhi Capitals (Jemimah Rodrigues) -- being led by Indian captains, Gardner will have plenty of opportunities to experience this feeling.

"There’s always extra motivation to beat teams with Indian captains. I’ve heard a lot of media recently talking about the World Cup, and I think the greatest thing to come out of it was that it almost felt scripted for India to win, playing a World Cup on home soil and lifting the trophy. I’ve felt those same emotions, and it was amazing. So I can only imagine what it must have felt like for these guys as well," said Ashleigh Gardner, speaking on 'TATA WPL: Curtain Raiser', ahead of their opening match against UP Warriorz on Saturday:

She also said that playing franchise cricket in India after the disappointing end to their ICC Women's ODI World Cup is quite special.

"To be back here after what was a disappointing finish for us, but now playing franchise cricket in India, is so special. It’s one of the best competitions in the world. To be able to come back and lead the Gujarat team again, I’m certainly really excited about it," she added.

Ahead of their opening match, UP Warriorz's new captain Meg Lanning spoke about leading a new side and reuniting with Deepti Sharma, the India all-rounder who starred in her country's triumph in the ICC Women's ODI World Cup a couple of months back.

: "I’m really excited to work with Deepti. I’ve played with her a couple of times before, and it’s always nice to play alongside her. She comes in excellent form and has been with the UP Warriorz from the start, so I’ll certainly be leaning on her quite a bit to understand how things work and see what I can learn from her. I’m super excited about the opportunity with the UP Warriorz," said Lanning, who had earlier captained Delhi Capitals in the Women's Premier League (WPL), while speaking on 'TATA WPL: Curtain Raiser'.

Lanning, who had a successful stint while leading the Delhi Capitals to three successive finals in the WPL, said captaining the Warriorz will be a challenge as she is not familiar with the team's staff and players, and it will take time to get used to how everything works at her new franchise.

"I have loved my time at Delhi Capitals, but this is a great new challenge for me personally, coming into a new squad. I don’t know a lot of the players or staff, so that’s probably the biggest challenge: getting used to how everything works and trying to put my own little spin on things to get the best out of everybody. As I said, I’m really excited about it and looking forward to getting started in the first game," said Lanning ahead of their opening clash against Gujarat Giants in Saturday's first match.

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