Interview | Personal accolades are great, but team success drives me the most: Ashleigh Gardner

Ashleigh Gardner has many traits on the cricket field worthy of admiration. She is one of the premier all-rounders in the women’s game, and tends to step up for Australia on the big occasions. She is a menacing middle-order batter capable of taking the game away from the opposition with her shot-making. She is also an off-spinner of repute, always having a wicket or two up her sleeve.

In the third edition of the Women’s Premier League (WPL), the 27-year-old from Sydney is also the captain of Gujarat Giants and entrusted with the task of reviving the team after it finished bottom in 2023 and 2024. She is leading from the front in this pursuit, her tally of 213 runs in six matches, including three fifties, coming at a blistering strike rate of 165.11. In an interview with The Hindu on Tuesday, Gardner spoke about leading the franchise, her form and why New Zealand’s triumph in last year’s T20 World Cup is good for the women’s game. Excerpts:

You have been part of all three WPL seasons. Has the comfort factor with playing in India increased? And also, how have you seen WPL’s progress over these three years?

Yeah, playing in India is obviously going to be very different to what most internationals are used to. But fortunately for me, playing in my third edition of the WPL, but also touring here a lot for Australia, I’ve got used to the conditions. Obviously, in T20 cricket, they’re going to be pretty conducive for batting.

But in this edition of the WPL, there’s been a little bit in it for the bowlers as well, which has been exciting because normally it’s always one-sided. So it keeps everyone interested. I think the way that the WPL has been this year, it’s probably been the most even it’s been in all of the editions that have happened. So yeah, it’s been really exciting to be involved in it.

In terms of the improvements going forward, do you see anything that can change?

Yeah, I think the league is obviously really good. There’s plenty of great domestic talent. I think that’s probably the area that’s going to keep improving. We’re seeing players from each team create a name for themselves. It’s exciting to see those young players really shine on the biggest stage.

Once the development of those domestic players keeps improving, we’ll see it be one of the best franchise leagues in the world. Not being biased, but I think Australia is kind of leading the way still just because of the domestic set-up that we’ve got.

Gujarat Giants won only one out of the first four games. Having finished bottom in the last two seasons, was there a feeling of, oh no, here we go again? With two straight wins, the team is now second in the table…

The first two WPL seasons probably didn’t go the way we would have planned. I think we had some fantastic players within the set-up. But I think looking at the players that we have this time around, it just has a different feel about it. Whether that comes back from the staff that we’ve got here and just the environment that we’ve tried to create.

Everyone seems to be really enjoying themselves. And I think ultimately when people are enjoying themselves and having fun, that does bring success. Being able to reset before each game, I think that’s also held us in pretty good stead, knowing that each opponent can be beaten. I think, yeah, we’ve got obviously two pretty challenging games coming up to hopefully make the final. But we’re certainly going in an upwards direction, which is exciting.

For a long time, you’ve been viewed as a potential future captain for Australia as well. Is that something you are keen on? And how can this experience help you, maybe, if you do get that chance in the future?

Yeah, I think captaining any team, it’s always going to help your leadership over time. But yeah, I was certainly not aspiring to become captain while starting my career.

If that opportunity ever came up, of course, I’d go with it and know that it’s a fantastic challenge. But for me, it’s being able to be the best player that I can be and then ultimately creating success for the team. And whether that’s leading a team or not, I feel like I’m always going to be a leader in some way, whether it’s with the batters or with the bowlers, just being able to use my voice when I can.

You have played under different captains for Australia like Meg Lanning and Alyssa Healy. Have you drawn from them in any way?

I feel like captaincy goes a long way to (is an extension of) your personality. Everyone’s got different methods to the way they want to captain and I hope that I’m kind of taking my own way on it. Yeah, you can certainly take things from those two. But hopefully, I’m just leaning into what my strengths are as a person and being able to really relish in that as well.

In terms of your performances with the bat, you’re having a very good WPL season. Probably last season didn’t go the way you would have liked. Did you make any changes coming into this edition?

Last year, obviously, there’s no hiding behind the fact that I didn’t perform for my team, which at times can get really frustrating. Especially being an overseas player, there’s always that expectation that you are going to perform. And I certainly wasn’t up to standard last year. But I’m now playing with confidence, which is sometimes all that matters. I was able to come off a pretty good Ashes campaign with bat and ball and just take the confidence out of that going into this tournament. I am hopefully able to perform for my team when I can.

Australia completed a clean sweep in the recent multi-format Ashes series against England. How pleasing was that on the whole? You also scored your first century for Australia during the series…

Team success is always something that drives me the most. Personal accolades are great, but like I’ve said many times before, if I can put my team in a winning position, whether it’s with bat and ball or in the field, that’s what drives me. And I guess what keeps me going is to make sure that I’m performing for my team and hopefully winning games for Australia.

So to win that series 16-0 was something that we never thought we were probably going to be able to do at the start. But to play the best cricket that we had for a very long time was really pleasing to see.

You are one of the best all-rounders in the world. How much of a challenge is it to ensure both skills are always up to scratch?

Being an all-rounder can be challenging at times. But I guess the one luxury that we have is sometimes when you don’t bat that well, you can make up for it with the ball. So, I can always have an impact on the game in all three facets. Making sure that I’m also putting enough time into both skills has always been important to me. But more so probably over the last few years, making sure that I’m spending enough time on both. I also try to be the best fielder I can be.

The ODI World Cup is in India later this year. How do you view Australia’s chances of retaining the title?

Our chances are really good. I still think we’re the best team in the world, there’s probably no denying that. But we’re going to be challenged throughout that World Cup, playing in different conditions. We’ve obviously played so much cricket here in India, so we do have the experience. I think one of our strengths is that we can adapt to all conditions, so we have to make sure we do that really quickly.

New Zealand won the T20 World Cup just a few months ago. You would obviously like Australia to win every time, but how beneficial is it for the women’s game that there are different winners and more competition?

Yeah, it’s really pleasing for different nations to do well in those big tournaments. For New Zealand to be able to win a World Cup, it’s huge for them. I’m sure that it’s going to grow the game in New Zealand as well. Ultimately what we want to do as cricketers is to grow the game globally and make sure that we’re really inspiring other nations around the world to hopefully have more resources and more accessibility.

You’ve had the opportunity of looking at a lot of talent in India. Anyone who’s impressed you this season?

There are plenty of players. You just have to look within our side. Someone like Kashvee (Gautam), who was injured last year and didn’t get the chance to play. But every chance that she’s got to perform, she has. She’s bowled brilliantly for us. There are people like Priya (Mishra) as well. It’s awesome to see those young players being able to perform on the biggest stage.