Gardner, however, will have to wait a bit to achieve her aim of winning against an Indian captain as her team, the Gujarat Giants, will open its campaign in the Women's Premier League (WPL) 2026 against UP Warriorz, who will be led by Gardner's former captain Meg Lanning, at the DY Patil Stadium in Navi Mumbai on Saturday.<\/p>\r\n\r\n
With three of the five teams in WPL -- Mumbai Indians (Harmanpreet Kaur, Royal Challengers Bengaluru (Smriti Mandhana) and Delhi Capitals (Jemimah Rodrigues) -- being led by Indian captains, Gardner will have plenty of opportunities to experience this feeling.<\/p>\r\n\r\n
\"There\u2019s always extra motivation to beat teams with Indian captains. I\u2019ve heard a lot of media recently talking about the World Cup, and I think the greatest thing to come out of it was that it almost felt scripted for India to win, playing a World Cup on home soil and lifting the trophy. I\u2019ve felt those same emotions, and it was amazing. So I can only imagine what it must have felt like for these guys as well,\" said Ashleigh Gardner, speaking on 'TATA WPL: Curtain Raiser', ahead of their opening match against UP Warriorz on Saturday:<\/p>\r\n\r\n
She also said that playing franchise cricket in India after the disappointing end to their ICC Women's ODI World Cup is quite special.<\/p>\r\n\r\n
\"To be back here after what was a disappointing finish for us, but now playing franchise cricket in India, is so special. It\u2019s one of the best competitions in the world. To be able to come back and lead the Gujarat team again, I\u2019m certainly really excited about it,\" she added.<\/p>\r\n\r\n
Ahead of their opening match, UP Warriorz's new captain Meg Lanning spoke about leading a new side and reuniting with Deepti Sharma, the India all-rounder who starred in her country's triumph in the ICC Women's ODI World Cup a couple of months back.<\/p>\r\n\r\n
: \"I\u2019m really excited to work with Deepti. I\u2019ve played with her a couple of times before, and it\u2019s always nice to play alongside her. She comes in excellent form and has been with the UP Warriorz from the start, so I\u2019ll certainly be leaning on her quite a bit to understand how things work and see what I can learn from her. I\u2019m super excited about the opportunity with the UP Warriorz,\" said Lanning, who had earlier captained Delhi Capitals in the Women's Premier League (WPL), while speaking on 'TATA WPL: Curtain Raiser'.<\/p>\r\n\r\n
Ahead of their opening match, UP Warriorz's new captain Meg Lanning spoke about leading a new side and reuniting with Deepti Sharma, the India all-rounder who starred in her country's triumph in the ICC Women's ODI World Cup a couple of months back.<\/p>\r\n\r\n
\"I have loved my time at Delhi Capitals, but this is a great new challenge for me personally, coming into a new squad. I don\u2019t know a lot of the players or staff, so that\u2019s probably the biggest challenge: getting used to how everything works and trying to put my own little spin on things to get the best out of everybody. As I said, I\u2019m really excited about it and looking forward to getting started in the first game,\" said Lanning ahead of their opening clash against Gujarat Giants in Saturday's first match.<\/p>\r\n\r\n