WPL 2023 TEAM GUIDE: Smriti Mandhana. Ellyse Perry. Sophie Devine. Heather Knight. Dane van Niekerk. Renuka Singh Thakur. RCB have riches at their disposal. But will they click? NICK FRIEND asks the question...
Captain: Smriti Mandhana
Coach: Ben Sawyer
Headliners
Smriti Mandhana: The top earner in the first Women's Premier League auction, The Cricketer understands that RCB were willing to go plenty further than the £340,000 they paid in order to end up with India's left-handed opener. She is a super player and a priority in both the WBBL with Sydney Thunder and in The Hundred at Southern Brave.
Ellyse Perry: The iconic Australian allrounder has advanced her T20 game in the last 12 months and took India apart at the back end of 2022 on their home turf. She remains one of the leading players I the world.
Richa Ghosh: Another Indian who attracted a bidding war, the young wicketkeeper – an Under-19 T20 World Cup winner just prior to the senior event – is a clean striker and a composed finisher. RCB were determined to get hold of her and forked out £190,000.
One to watch
Dane van Niekerk is hardly an unknown but it'll be worth watching her return to high-level cricket; she was omitted from South Africa's squad for the World Cup after failing to meet a time trial minimum standard and she last played franchise cricket last summer in The Hundred. She remains a fine player.
Australia allrounder Ellyse Perry [Rodger Bosch/AFP via Getty Images]
Why they'll win the WPL
Because they're RCB: a collection of enormous names picked up for eye-watering prices.
They have stayed true to the ethos of their men's team in picking up the global stars – Perry, Mandhana, van Niekerk, Heather Knight, Renuka Singh Thakur and Sophie Devine – and worrying later about how they best fit together.
Head coach Sawyer has plenty to think about in that regard, but he was a serial winner in the WBBL with a similarly stacked Sydney Sixers side, for whom Perry was so prolific, so he will have his ideas about how to get his new side performing.
He doubles up as New Zealand coach these days and has worked closely with Devine.
The acquisition of Thakur was a good move: she is India's best seamer and swings the new ball both ways. Her partnership with Megan Schutt, one of the most consistent in-swing bowlers of the last decade, will tie up plenty of teams.
Why they won't win the WPL
Because they're RCB: a collection of enormous names picked up for eye-watering prices.
Spending big on their core has left them light in other areas. The batting engine room is inexperienced once you get beyond Ghosh, who seems likely to bat at No.5. In another key department, other than van Niekerk, who hasn't been a regular bowler in the recent past, they are the only franchise without an overseas spinner, which feels like a major oversight.
It puts the pressure on Preeti Bose, who played briefly for India in 2016 and bowls left-arm spin, to hold up an end. In Devine, Perry, Knight and van Niekerk, this is also a quartet of overseas players who have faced injury issues.
Mandhana herself has recently been troubled by a finger injury.
Squad: Smriti Mandhana, Sophie Devine, Ellyse Perry, Renuka Singh Thakur, Richa Ghosh, Erin Burns, Disha Kasat, Indrani Roy, Shreyanka Patil, Kanika Ahuja, Asha Shobana, Heather Knight, Dane van Niekerk, Preeti Bose, Poonam Khemnar, Komal Zanzad, Meghan Schutt, Sahana Pawar
Likely line-up: Mandhana, Devine, Knight, Perry, Ghosh, Kasat, Ahuja, Bose, Schutt, Thakur, Zanzad
Fixtures: March 5 – Delhi Capitals, March 6 – Mumbai Indians, March 8 – Gujarat Giants, March 10 – UP Warriorz, March 13 – Delhi Capitals, March 15 – UP Warriorz, March 18 – Gujarat Giants, March 21 – Mumbai Indians
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