Lanning led Delhi Capitals to a runners-up finish in each of the first three editions of the WPL, and will tap into that experience with her new team.
“I certainly learnt a lot in my experience with Delhi,” Lanning said in a media interaction on Monday in Navi Mumbai. “Coming into a new franchise, you don’t really know how things operate or how individuals work. A really important part of the initial week or so is getting used to that. And that’s what I’ve tried to focus on here in my first few days – just trying to get to know everybody.
“I’m struggling a little bit with all the names. I’m trying to remember all of them, but it’s just trying to understand what people’s roles are, how it all works, and things that I can maybe have some input into and make an impact on, and then some areas where I just need to let people do their job. I don’t want to be in control over everything [but] try and bring different people’s perspectives and give them confidence to be able to execute their roles.”
Lanning will have a few familiar faces to work with. At the auction, Warriorz bought back Sophie Ecclestone and Deepti Sharma, who had played with Lanning in WBBL 2024-25. Lanning also played alongside Shikha Pandey at Capitals for three seasons.
“Deepti has been able to impact the game with both bat and ball and has really improved her game too, which is good to see,” Lanning said. “She’s always been such a good player but for her to have that drive to keep getting better and want to be the best is very important to someone at this level. She’s been part of the franchise from the start, so she’s very important on the field and off the field, and I’m looking forward to playing with her again. I have done that in the past and always enjoyed it. I’ll be leaning on her a little bit, and Sophie Ecclestone as well, who has been around a lot, to work out how we go about it. I’ll be leaning on those players to learn as much as I can and understand what the franchise is about, but also trying to move us forward and put my own spin on it.”
Nayar endorsed Lanning’s captaincy by saying she is “the best mind in women’s cricket” and said Warriorz wanted to get her on board to lead the side. Deepti, having led the team last season in Alyssa Healy’s absence, was the other candidate.
“For me, she is the best mind out there in women’s cricket,” Nayar said. “So we are very happy to have her. It’s the first time for me [coaching a women’s cricket team], yes. But I’ve always believed the best teams have the best captains. And this format, especially, is a captain’s format. I wanted someone who could lead this team and having Meg there makes things very easy for me because she’s going to take all the pressure. I’m going to be chilling, having coffee. So no pressure, Meg.
“But nothing changes. It’s still cricket. It’s still about the players. It’s not about the coach. So I’m here to support her and the team in the best way possible. And hopefully, we can create a legacy of our own.”
Lanning’s cricket calendar has become freer since her international retirement in November 2023. But she keeps her competitive juices running by playing domestic cricket, the WBBL, the Hundred and the WPL. Except for the WPL, she plays as a non-captain in all those competitions.
“I don’t know if it’s a different perspective, but I come into a tournament like this and I feel really fresh and energised to play,” Lanning said. “With the amount of international cricket now, I think it can be quite hard work to be able to just move from one thing to the other. Obviously there’s a lot of positives and great things about playing international cricket, but it comes with its challenges. From a sort of a mental perspective as well, to be able to try and stay as fresh as you can. One of the bonuses for me is that I do get some breaks in between these tournaments, and then I can come in really excited about the opportunity, and with some really good energy.
“Coming into this set-up here, I didn’t really know any of the coaching staff or many of the players. That’s exciting. Yes, a little bit nervous as well, obviously coming in, not really sure what the setup’s going to be, but I was really looking forward to the challenge of that and trying to find a way to bring everybody together and get everybody on the same page to be able to go out there and win as many games as we can, because that’s what we want to do.”
The WPL has given Indian players exposure and a platform where they can play under pressure, floodlights and in front of packed houses, replicating the atmosphere of international cricket. The results are slowly starting to take effect. India won their maiden World Cup title last year. Players like N Shree Charani and Kranti Gaud, both of whom were a part of the World Cup win, made it to the Indian team via the WPL. Lanning said that the tournament was truly meeting its purpose.
“The biggest thing that I’ve seen is just the depth and the amount of Indian players who are able to contribute and win games for their teams,” she said. “The early part of the tournament was probably reliant on the internationals as a fair bit and the big Indian players, whereas now you’ve got contributions from a number of different people and they’re putting pressure on the big stars, which is really good to see. One of the biggest points is just that you’ve got so many more players now who can perform at the level required.
“The other thing is just exposing more players to high-pressure situations. That’s what the WPL has done. There’s a lot of eyes watching every game, and there’s a lot of increased media attention and things like that. So the more you do that, the more you get used to it and the better you get. We’ve seen that throughout the three tournaments that everyone’s getting used to that a little bit more and sort of thriving under those conditions.”
S Sudarshanan is a sub-editor at ESPNcricinfo. @Sudarshanan7
