Double Australian World Cup winner Lisa Keightley is the latest Australian to take the reins of a Women's Premier League team in India, being appointed coach of the WPL champions Mumbai Indians.
Keightley, the 54-year-old former batting star from Mudgee, has taken up the vacancy left by former England captain Charlotte Edwards, who stepped down earlier in the year after helping Mumbai win two of the first three editions of the league.
"It's an honour to join the Mumbai Indians, a team that has set the benchmark in the WPL," Keightley said on Thursday.
"The culture of excellence and care is something I deeply admire. I look forward to working with this talented group to build on our success and continue inspiring on and off the field."
Keightley, who was part of the 1997 and 2005 World Cup-winning teams, recently guided the Northern Superchargers, featuring Australian stars Annabel Sutherland, Phoebe Litchfield, Nicola Carey and Georgia Wareham, to victory in the England's premier white-ball tournament, the Hundred.
Having also been first Australian national women's team coach and having done the same role with England, Keightley has a distinguished c.v, having also run the Sydney Thunder in the WBBL and worked with Meg Lanning as her captain as part of the coaching set-up at Delhi Capitals.
Now, she'll become the third Australian head coach of a WPL side, along with Michael Klinger, at the Gujarat Giants, and Luke Williams at Royal Challengers Bengaluru.
Australian influence in the WPL has been huge from the league's outset, with players like Alyssa Healy, Ash Gardner, Beth Mooney and Lanning all having been franchise captains in its infancy.
But, intriguingly, the one franchise where there's been no significant Australian influence up to now has been at Mumbai, who took the title in the inaugural 2023 campaign as well as this year, again under the captaincy of India skipper Harmanpreet Kaur.
Nita Ambani, co-owner of Mumbai, described Keightley as "a trailblazer in women's cricket, who has inspired generations with her passion, expertise and pioneering spirit.
"We look to scale even greater heights and build on our legacy of excellence."
As an opener in her playing days, Keightley played nine Tests, 82 ODIs, and one T20 international.
