Mumbai, Dec 29 (IANS) Defending champions Mumbai Indians (MI) have appointed former Australia leg-spinner Kristen Beams as their spin bowling coach for the 2026 Women’s Premier League (WPL) season, the franchise announced on Monday.

“It’s my first time as a coach here. It’s an incredible opportunity to work with someone like Jhulan Goswami, one of the greats of the game, and somebody I played cricket against.

“Incredible culture that they’ve developed a winning culture over a really long period of time, but a family, and that’s what you hear everyone talk about, that this group is so tight knit, and it’s a family, and it’s what you want to be a part of,” said Kristen in a video posted on the franchise’s Instagram account on Monday.

Kristen was an instrumental player in Australia’s World Cup campaigns, finishing as the third-highest wicket-taker in the 2017 Women’s ODI World Cup in England. Her international career spanned 1 Test, 30 ODIs and 18 T20Is, and 45 T20 games in the WBBL, before she ended her playing career to move to coaching.

“I think as a coach coming in, that’s exactly what you want to be able to do, is to walk into an environment that feels really tight knit, and a team that knows how to win,” added Kristen.

Kristen brings a proven coaching pedigree to the MI set-up featuring head coach Lisa Keightley, bowling coach and mentor Jhulan Goswami, batting coach Devieka Palshikaar and fielding coach Nicole Bolton.

She has coached in the WBBL, especially with the Hobart Hurricanes winning the title this year, as well as in The Hundred. Kristen worked as the head coach of the Australia women’s U19 team, apart from serving as the National Development Lead at Cricket Australia and Community Cricket Manager – South at Cricket Tasmania.

WPL 2026 will run from January 9 to February 5 and will be played in Navi Mumbai and Vadodara. MI, the two-time champions are led by India captain Harmanpreet Kaur, and will open their campaign against Smriti Mandhana-led Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) at the DY Patil Stadium in Navi Mumbai.

–IANS

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