Gujarat Giants appoint former English star as fielding coach for WPL 2026

While WPL 2026 is less than a week away to begin, Gujarat Giants have appointed a new fielding coach, who was a legend for England Women.

WPL 2026: Sarah Taylor becomes new fielding coach for Gujarat Giants

The 36-year-old former English wicketkeeper-batter Sarah Taylor has been appointed as the new fielding coach for the Gujarat Giants for the WPL 2026.

Before the beginning of the fourth season of the Women's Premier League, Gujarat Giants' coaching staff seems very promising, as Michael Klinger is the head coach, Pravin Tambe is the bowling coach, and Saurabh Walker is the analyst. 

Sarah Taylor was known as one of the best wicketkeepers in international cricket history, as her wicketkeeping style was also compared with top men's international wicketkeepers. 

From 2006 to 2019, Sarah played 10 Women's Tests, 126 Women's ODIs, and 90 Women's T20Is. The right-handed batter scored 300 Women's Test runs, 4056 Women's ODI runs, and 2177 Women's T20I runs. While she recorded seven centuries and 20 half-centuries in WODI career, she also recorded 16 half-centuries in WT20I career.

Sarah Taylor coaching career

After retiring from professional cricket in 2019, Sarah has become busy with coaching. She was the wicketkeeping coach of the Sussex men's cricket team, while she also returned to the game by featuring in the Women's Hundred 2021 and Women's T20 Cup 2021. 

Later, Sarah became the assistant coach for Team Abu Dhabi and Manchester Originals (both men's and women's). She was also the wicketkeeping coach for England Lions during their South Africa tour in 2024.

The WPL 2026 will run between January 9 and February 5, 2026, while Gujarat Giants will play their first match of the season on January 10, when they will face UP Warriorz in the second game of the tournament. After finishing in the last or fifth positions in the first two seasons, they reached the Playoffs last season after finishing in the third position in the points table, as they lost the Eliminator against Mumbai Indians.