India skipper Harmanpreet Kaur on Wednesday pulled out of the ongoing Women’s Big Bash League (WBBL) for the Melbourne Renegades due to back injury after missing the season’s first two games.
Earlier, Harmanpreet, 33, had missed the Renegades’ opening two matches against Adelaide Strikers and Brisbane Heat due to her national commitments.
Meanwhile, England batter Eve Jones has been signed as an initial replacement for Harmanpreet.
“Harmanpreet was fantastic for us last season and we were looking forward to having her as part of our squad again this year, but unfortunately she has been ruled out through injury. Eve will stay on with our squad for at least the next couple of matches, as we work through the best strategy for our squad for the remainder of the tournament,” said James Rosengarten, Melbourne Renegades general manager.
In the 2021 season of the WBBL, Harmanpreet was a crucial cog in the wheel for the Renegades, scoring 406 runs at an average of 58 and strike-rate of 130.96 in 12 innings, including three fifties, to earn the ‘Player of the Tournament’ honours.
With her off-spin, she scalped 15 wickets at an average of 20.86 and economy rate of 7.45 as she finished in top-10 of leading run-scorers and wicket-takers of the season. She had become the third overseas player to be named WBBL’s player of the tournament after New Zealand duo of captain Sophie Devine (who got the honour twice) and former all-rounder Amy Satterthwaite.
On the other hand, India middle-order batter Jemimah Rodrigues has joined the Melbourne Stars after topping the runs charts of the recently concluded Women’s Asia Cup.