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. 

Former Indian off-spinner and the 2011 World Cup winner, Harbhajan Singh, has publicly asked his friend and the former Indian coach, Gary Kirsten, to quit the post as the head coach of the Pakistan men's cricket team. In a hard-hitting post on social networking site X, Harbhajan suggested he'd prefer to see Kirsten working with Team India, than "waste time" with Pakistan cricket. 

Harbhajan's comments came on the back of reports from the media in Pakistan that claimed Kirsten was unhappy with the disunity of the Pakistan team in their dressing room. Kirsten, the South African coach, was said to have expressed his frustration with the team and that it had proven difficult to coach a team "where the players are separated, left and right."

On social media, Harbhajan said, "Don't waste ur time there, Gary. Come back to coach Team INDIA. Gary Kirsten, one of the rare gems, is a great coach, mentor for everyone in the 2011 team. Our winning coach of the 2011 World Cup. Special man, Gary."

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Harbhajan Singh wants Gary Kirsten back with Team India

Pakistan's early exit from the T20 World Cup 2024, after being eliminated by the groups, as the preliminary round is called, has put both players and management under the microscope. The tournament marked Kirsten's first major assignment with Babar Azam and his men since he was appointed by the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) in early May.

In a reported quote from Kirsten by Pakistani journalists, the coach said, "There’s no unity in Pakistan’s team. They call it a team, but it isn’t a team. They aren’t supporting each other; they are working as individuals. I have been with teams, but as a coach, I haven’t seen that."

Kirsten's legacy of Indian cricket, on the other hand, has been golden. Under his watch, India won the 2011 World Cup, concluding a 28-year drought of a major ICC trophy, and reached the No. 1 ranking in Test cricket for a period of time. Before embracing the Pakistan role, Kirsten concluded his duties during the IPL as the mentor of the Gujarat Titans.

Harbhajan making the call so openly recognizes there is still a lot of respect and admiration Indian players possess for the man who helped shape arguably one of India's greatest triumphs on the cricket field.