Mighty Meg Lanning seems to be playing better with age – and she’s out to lift the WPL title that would cap her matchless captaincy career
Amid plenty of excitement in Lucknow, one Australian cricketing great is about to try to succeed where another one failed.
And as the fourth edition of the Women’s Premier League prepares to kick off in India, the supporters of the under-achieving UP Warriorz will trust in their “Captain Meg-astar” to make it fourth time lucky.
For the lucrative league’s first three seasons, Meg Lanning led inspirationally and batted beautifully as she guided Delhi Capitals to the final, only to miss out each time on the big prize.
Delhi, probably foolishly, let her go and the well-resourced but wooden-spoon Warriorz, seeking a complete reset after releasing Alyssa Healy, rushed in to snap up her predecessor as Australia skipper.
It was the 2026 league’s marquee overseas signing, with 33-year-old Lanning’s reputation for having what Warriorz coach Abhishek Nayar calls the “best mind in women’s cricket” only enhanced by her continuing brilliance with the bat, as evidenced by her dazzling WBBL|11 campaign for the Melbourne Stars.
But the pressure heaps up now. In the WBBL and The Hundred, Lanning no longer steers the ship. In the WPL, she carries the load as captain, just as she did in that glorious era when she led Australia to five global titles and a Commonwealth Games gold.
The injury-hit Healy, who was surprisingly overlooked in the WPL auction, racked up three half-centuries for the Warriorz but never really showed her very best in her two seasons.
But Lanning’s looking forward to taking the reins. “I come into a tournament like this and I feel really fresh and energised to play,” she told reporters this week.
“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.”
Not to mention really good teammates. Phoebe Litchfield, the opener whom Lanning has identified as being a potential successor to Healy as Australia skipper, could make a devastating opening partner for her after her move to the Warriorz from Gujarat Giants.
The WPL may be missing Ellyse Perry (Royal Challengers Bengaluru) and Annabel Sutherland (Delhi Capitals) this year as they’ve both withdrawn for personal reasons, but there’ll still be 13 Australians in action in the month-long tournament.
The team with the greatest Australian influence looks to be Gujarat, led again by Ash Gardner and featuring the WBBL’s top run-scorer Beth Mooney as well as the 2025-26 edition’s top wicket-taker Georgia Wareham. Seamer Kim Garth makes up a powerful quartet.
The tournament kicks off on Friday (Saturday, 1:00am AEDT) at the DY Patil Stadium in Navi Mumbai where India won the World Cup in November, and will feature the country’s two biggest female cricketing superstars, Harmanpreet Kaur, captain of the reigning champion Mumbai Indians, and Smriti Mandhana, skipper of 2024 winners Bengaluru.
RCB will have a couple of big Aussie hitters Grace Harris and Georgia Voll in their ranks, while Nicola Carey and Milly Illingworth are both on Mumbai’s books.
AUSTRALIANS IN THE 2026 WOMEN’S PREMIER LEAGUE:
Gujarat Giants: Ash Gardner (capt), Beth Mooney, Kim Garth, Georgia Wareham.
UP Warriorz: Meg Lanning (capt), Phoebe Litchfield, Charli Knott.
Royal Challengers Bengaluru: Grace Harris, Georgia Voll.
Delhi Capitals: Lucy Hamilton, Alana King.
Mumbai Indians: Milly Illingworth, Nicola Carey.
