As a result of their recent player additions ahead of the 2024 Women’s Premier League (WPL), Smriti Mandhana, captain of Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB), believes that her team’s balance has improved. In the first season, RCB only managed to finish in fourth place in the five-team league and missed out on the knockout stages, despite having a lot of great players. When the club plays the UP Warriors on February 24 at the M Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bengaluru, the 2024 WPL season will officially begin.
In the upcoming season, Mandhana expressed her hope that her team would play better. She said the team didn’t know what the players did or didn’t do the previous season, but they will be careful to know each player’s benefits and limitations this time around so they can perform better.
It has to be better than the first season, that much is certain. As far as RCB is concerned, we brought in new players and released a good number of existing ones. Thus, there has been a noticeable improvement in the balance, and we aim to reach our full potential. My practice went well thanks to playing in the domestic season, and we got to see a lot of females we hadn’t played against before. After seeing these beauties, I could suggest a few names for my franchise.”
“We didn’t know about 90% of the guys when we joined the team two days before the tournament the previous year. We had no idea what they did or did not do. Knowing their advantages and disadvantages this year will help us play better. It’s challenging to make changes while the WPL is underway because it’s a brief competition, Mandhana stated on JioCinema.
Mandhana responded, “We prefer not to plan too far ahead,” when asked if RCB is a strong candidate for the WPL in 2024. Despite the team’s four straight losses, she said, the management had given the players great support, and this time they wanted to pay it forward.
It’s best not to plan too far ahead. We are driven to outperform the previous year and firmly wish to achieve that. We want to win the trophy more than anything else since the folks at our franchise are wonderful and have been a huge source of support. The topic of our wellbeing came up in the debate, as did the way they supported us even after we lost four games in a row the previous season. Thus, it is crucial that we, as players, honor the support we are receiving and work hard to win the trophy for our supporters who gave us such a great season’s support,” she continued.
I wish to avoid making the same mistake I did the year before: Smriti Mandhana
With just 149 runs in eight games at an average of 18.62 and a strike rate of 111.19, Smriti Mandhana had a dismal WPL 2023 campaign. The 27-year-old reflected on her efforts and said she would use the lessons from last year’s failures to improve both as an individual and as a team.
“I couldn’t give the performance that was expected of me last year. This time, I want to provide the team with a launch platform rather than make the same mistakes as last year. We have an excellent batting lineup. This time, I know the players better because I’m the captain.”
My performance was below par the previous year, and I was unsure of the cause. The captain and the RCB team gave me their full support. I had actually given up, but they supported me. I am convinced that I will perform well this time since I do not want to disappoint them. I believe that last year’s back problem prevented me from having that confidence. Deepti Sharma, an all-round player for the UP Warriors, expressed similar opinions. On this occasion, we aim to make it to the final and take home the prize. In my opinion, I want to perform better than in 2023,” she said.
India
