If you’re fit and performing well, age doesn’t matter: Michael Klinger

Michael Klinger said "If you’re fit and performing well, age doesn’t matter" in an interview in Kochi on November 7, 2026, a day after the WPL mini auction. He added that he was delighted with the support for the women’s game in India.

Klinger is a former Australia cricketer who made 62 for Australia in the third T20I against Sri Lanka at Adelaide in 2017 and did not play another international game. He has since moved into coaching.

He scored 24,729 runs across First Class, List A and T20 matches and has become a much-in-demand coach in different countries, including India, where he is training Gujarat Giants. Excerpts from an interview Klinger gave The Hindu at Kochi, the day after the WPL’s mini auction, formed the basis of his remarks.

For a side that finished at the bottom in the first two editions of the WPL, Gujarat Giants did rather well in the last two. That turnaround has been a focus of Klinger’s recent work with the team.

"Our girls get to play in front of big crowds," he says. "And that's what it’s all about." The comment accompanied his assessment of the growth in support for the women’s game in India.

Gujarat Giants qualified for the playoffs back-to-back in the last two editions of the WPL.