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Defending champions Mumbai Indians (MI) have appointed Kristen Beams as their spin bowling coach ahead of the 2026 Women's Premier League season, bringing world-class expertise to strengthen the franchise's bowling unit.
Beams, a former Australian leg-spinner, played a key role in Australia's World Cup campaigns, finishing as the 3rd-highest wicket-taker at the 2017 ODI World Cup. Her playing career included 1 Test, 30 ODIs, 18 T20Is, and 45 WBBL T20 games, before she shifted to coaching, as per the MI website. Beyond her playing credentials, Beams brings a proven coaching pedigree. She has coached in the WBBL and The Hundred, served as Coach of the Australia Women's U19 Team, is the National Development Lead at Cricket Australia, and is the Community Cricket Manager - South at Cricket Tasmania. "It's an incredible opportunity to work with someone like Jhulan Goswami, one of the greats of the game, somebody I played cricket against. [It's an] incredible culture...that they've developed a winning culture over a really long period of time, but a family 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. And 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," Beams said in a video posted by MI on Instagram. Two-time champions Mumbai Indians will be confident, heading into a new season of the WPL from January 9, after managing to retain most of the previous champions from the team at the mega auction in New Delhi. In addition to the retained core of captain Harmanpreet Kaur, Nat Sciver-Brunt, Hayley Matthews, Amanjot Kaur and G Kamalini, MI managed to get back Amelia Kerr, the player of the tournament at the most recent T20 World Cup, as well as S Sajana, Saika Ishaque, Sanskriti Gupta and veteran pacer Shabnim Ismail. (ANI)
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