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Being the defending champion of any event is usually a double-edged sword. And Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) might very effectively really feel the great and the unhealthy this very sword brings with it because the Smriti Mandhana-led facet embarks on one other Girls’s Premier League (WPL) season.
RCB will hope to be the primary staff on this younger competitors to retain its title after it dumped Delhi Capitals enroute to the trophy.
One thing that may certainly assist the Challengers make a case for themselves to clinch back-to-back trophies is their batting. Led by an skilled Elysse Perry of Australia, who amassed 347 runs from 9 matches final season to win the Orange Cap, RCB’s batting line-up additionally boasts of India internationals like Smriti and Richa Ghosh.
Skipper Smriti can be getting into the season after a few swashbuckling bilateral dwelling sequence in opposition to Eire and West Indies. Towards the Windies, the southpaw scored at a mean of virtually 65 within the shortest format and got here out because the top-scorer within the three-match sequence.
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Towards the Irish, in a One-Day Worldwide sequence, she scored a century and ended with 249 runs at a formidable common of 83.
One other asset of RCB is the big-hitting Richa. The Bengal wicketkeeper-batter is the quintessential instance of a finisher and may show to be helpful within the demise overs with quickfire knocks.
The arrogance and maybe a skip of their step credited to the tag of being the ‘defending champion’ can certainly assistance on their very own. Nevertheless, some wounds that might be inflicted by that double-edged sword might pose issues for the facet.
The Challengers’ tempo battery has all the time been low on cost, when it comes to output at the very least. Over the 2 seasons, RCB’s spin division has taken extra wickets (64) in opposition to the 29 scalped by the pacers. Nevertheless, the quick bowlers have been extra economical – having conceded 263 fewer runs – and have troubled the batters to center the ball.
Whereas the spinners are certainly one of RCB’s biggest strengths, the administration would rue the absence of Asha Sobhana from the beginning line-up. The leg-break bowler from Kerala took 12 wickets final season, the second-highest wicket-taker within the marketing campaign, and has been sidelined by a knee harm which additionally saved her out of the Girls’s T20 World Cup in UAE.
Shreyanka Patil – final 12 months’s Purple Cap winner – is the one spin possibility that has expertise within the WPL and internationally.
| Photograph Credit score:
SHIV KUMAR PUSHPAKAR/ The Hindu
Shreyanka Patil – final 12 months’s Purple Cap winner – is the one spin possibility that has expertise within the WPL and internationally.
| Photograph Credit score:
SHIV KUMAR PUSHPAKAR/ The Hindu
One other absence that will weaken RCB’s core is Sophie Devine. The T20 World Cup-winning skipper of the New Zealand facet introduced a break from cricket which dominated her out of the 2025 WPL season. The allrounder’s means to come back in clutch with each the ball and the bat can be a sore miss for the Challengers.
There are some gamers who might assist bandage the aforementioned wounds. Thrilling prospects just like the Uttarakhand allrounder Prema Rawat – a leg spinner – might slot in as Asha’s substitute. Joshitha VJ, upbeat from her U-19 Girls’s T20 World Cup triumph in Malaysia, is one other allrounder to be careful for.
RCB has introduced in skilled Australia internationals Heather Graham and Kim Garth rather than Devine and Kate Cross, who has opted out of the season as a result of private causes. Each Graham and Garth might energy up the Challengers’ tempo battery, with the latter having earlier performed for Gujarat Giants within the event.
Whereas the Smriti and Perry-led batting division has virtually nothing to fret about, the bowling division might very effectively be handled one other blow if the celebrities determine to not align for the defending champion.
Because it stands, Shreyanka Patil – final 12 months’s Purple Cap winner – is the one spin possibility that has expertise within the WPL and internationally. Nevertheless, she has needed to battle with accidents within the final eight months. She suffered a fracture to the fourth finger of her left hand simply after one match in final 12 months’s Girls’s Asia Cup. Whereas she did handle to get slot in time for the T20 World Cup, by which she took 4 wickets, it’s been greater than three months since she performed a aggressive match.
That being mentioned, it’ll be attention-grabbing to see how Shreyanka and the Smriti-skippered facet deal with the double-edged sword when RCB begins its title defence in opposition to Gujarat Giants in Vadodara on February 14.
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