The Melbourne Renegades have suffered a huge blow as their star player Harmanpreet Kaur has been ruled out of the remainder of the Women Big Bash League with a back injury.
The 33-year-old Indian skipper, who won the player of the tournament award for an excellent season with the bat last year, was set to join the Renegades’ squad for the 3rd match after coming off fresh from Asia Cup glory.
Kaur decided not to travel to Australia because of a back injury and pulled out of the tournament. In the last edition, Kaur had scored 406 runs in 12 innings at an average of 41.4. English batter Eve Jones, who was roped in as Kaur’s replacement for the first two matches, is set to stay with the team for the remainder of the tournament.
Renegades’ general manager James Rosengarten expressed her disappointment and said, “Harmanpreet was fantastic for us last season, but an injury ruled her out. Eve will stay with us.”
Kaur had a fantastic past few months. She led India to the seventh Asia Cup title and won the September player of the month award.
Apart from Kaur, other big Indian players featured in the eighth edition of the WBBL are Jemimah Rodrigues for Melbourne Stars and Pooja Vastrakar for Brisbane Heat.