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- Can RCB Defend 2024 Glory? Smriti Mandhana To Lead After Personal Setback, Perry–Devine Absent
sports desk42 minutes ago
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Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) women’s team won the trophy before the men’s team in 2024. Then RCB under the captaincy of Smriti Mandhana defeated Delhi Capitals in the final. Ellyse Perry and Sophie Devine proved to be the backbone of the team in the tournament, but both are not a part of the team this time. Captain Mandhana is also going to play her first tournament after the end of her marriage.
Will RCB be able to regain its 2024 status?
What position will you hold in 2025?
After winning the title in 2024, RCB was expected to reach the playoffs in 2025 as well, but the team could only reach fourth place. The team could win only 3 out of 8 matches. RCB started its season by defeating Gujarat and Delhi, but the team could not even make it to the playoffs after losing 5 out of the last 6 matches.
What’s new in 2026?
Ellyse Perry, who was retained before the mega auction, will not be able to play the tournament due to personal reasons. Perry is the team’s top run scorer and fourth top wicket taker. The team chose Sayali Satghare as Perry’s replacement, but it seems difficult for her to be included in the playing-11.
In the auction, RCB also bought England fast bowler Lauren Bell along with all-rounders like Pooja Vastrakar, Grace Harris, Arundhati Reddy, Nadine de Klerk and Radha Yadav. Australia’s Georgia Woll and uncapped Gautami Nayak were included in the team for the opening position.
Will the breakdown of marriage affect Mandhana?
India’s vice captain Smriti Mandhana was going to get married after winning the Women’s ODI World Cup on 2 November 2025. Their marriage was to take place on November 23, but it was called off due to some reasons. She stayed away from the cricket field for 15 days, then started preparing for the T-20 series with Sri Lanka in December.
5 T20 matches against Sri Lanka started from 21 December. Mandhana could not score a single fifty in the first three matches, but she made a comeback in the fourth T20 and scored 80 runs. She also made a record opening partnership of 162 runs with Shefali Verma. He was rested in the next match.
After the breakdown of her marriage, Mandhana is now going to enter a tournament for the first time. She will also captain Bengaluru. Not only will he have the challenge of filling the gap of big players, he will also have the challenge of taking the team to the playoffs while maintaining his batting form. Mandhana has been able to score only 4 fifties in 3 seasons of WPL.
Perry, how will Devine be filled?
Alice Perry will not be able to play the tournament. Whereas the team could not retain Divine and Renuka. Both of them had contributed significantly to the team’s title winning campaign. Divine took over the opening along with captain Smriti Mandhana and scored quickly. Whereas Renuka used to take wickets with the new ball. Both will now be seen playing from Gujarat.
To replace Perry, the team has all-rounders like Grace Harris and Nadine de Klerk. Georgia Voll can open in place of Devine. Lauren Bell can be seen handling the new ball. Arundhati Reddy will also be present to support him.
Which players to keep an eye on?
Vastrakar, Radha Yadav and Gautami Nayak can be kept an eye on. Vastrakar remains away from the cricket field most of the time due to injury. He last played cricket in October 2024. Since then she is undergoing rehab at the Center of Excellence in Bengaluru.
Before this, Radha was a part of Delhi Capitals for 3 seasons, but she was not made to bowl on most of the occasions. In Bengaluru, he will be expected to bat along with bowling.
Gautami played domestic cricket for Nagaland, Baroda and Maharashtra. Now he got a chance in WPL. She was the third top run scorer in the 2025 Maharashtra Premier League. RCB can also send him for batting in the top order.
Strength and weakness
Strength: There are Vastrakar and Radha along with Harris, Richa and de Klerk in the middle and lower order. The team’s finishing is very strong, if the start is strong then the team can reach a big score. The team’s spin bowling is also strong with the presence of Radha, Shreyanka and De Klerk.
Weakness: There are no strong players to support Mandhana in the top order. Woll and Gautami do not have WPL experience, both will be responsible to fill the void of Devine and Perry. There is no strong option to support Bell in fast bowling.
Possible playing-11 Smriti Mandhana (Captain), Georgia Woll, Gautami Nayak, Grace Harris, Richa Ghosh (wk), Nadine de Klerk, Pooja Vastrakar, Radha Yadav, Shreyanka Patil, Arundhati Reddy, Lauren Bell.
Extra: Dayalan Hemlata, Sayali Satghare, Prema Rawat, Linsey Smith, Pratyusha Kumar.
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