The Women's Premier League auction on Monday turned out to be quite a spectacle to watch as five teams battled it out to assemble their squads for their maiden voyage in the inaugural WPL, starting next month. All the franchises tried their best to build strong squads with the potential to claim the trophy, but it was the Royal Challengers Bangalore think tank that grabbed everyone's attention right from the beginning of the auction.
RCB added names like Smriti Mandhana, Sophie Devine and Ellyse Perry right in the first hour of the auction in Mumbai and then went on to add rising Indian stars like Richa Ghosh and Renuka Singh in the next couple of hours as well. They spent big and had burnt a major portion of their purse to get these stars on board, but they also made some really smart buys at budget prices as the auction progressed further. They got quality overseas players like Heather Knight, Dane Van Niekerk, Megan Schutt and Erin Burns for a combined total of just Rs 1.4 crore.
WPL Auction 2023 RCB: Full Squad of Royal Challengers Bangalore
(Photo: The Quint)
They couldn't add any more big Indian names to the squad after that, but RCB showed their scouting strength once again by signing highly talented domestic players like Indrani Roy, Disha Kasat and others. The final outcome was quite good as they built a well-rounded squad with qualities that make them one of the teams to watch out for in the inaugural WPL.
A Star-Studded Batting Line-Up
In Monday's auction RCB picked up Smriti Mandhana, Ellyse Perry and Sophie Devine as their first three players. It was a dream come true for their fans as it's like having Chris Gayle, Virat Kohli and AB de Villiers in the same team.
Everyone knows what they have done in the IPL over the years and the same things are expected from the trio of Mandhana, Perry and Devine who together have between them 7132 T20I runs, a century and 44 fifties.
As if having that trio wasn't enough, RCB also added other quality international players like Dane Van Niekerk, Heather Knight and Erin Burns to strengthen their middle-order. Out of these three, only Van Niekerk might find a place in the XI due to the limitations on the number of overseas players and team combination, but having backups like Knight and Burns make RCB's squad very secure.
Richa Ghosh is there as well to add quality to RCB's lower middle-order. She will be tasked with finishing duties, which she has been doing wonderfully well for the Indian team.
Apart from them, Jharkhand's Indrani Roy and Vidarbha's Disha Kasat are also expected to find places in the batting unit. Both are talented batters, who can play a pivotal role for RCB in this WPL season. Kasat can also bowl, whereas Roy adds wicket-keeping value as well. There is
Punjab's Kanika Ahuja as well. She is a quality pacer, who can hit the long ball in the death overs.
RCB Have Massive All-Round Depth
Perry, Devine and Van Niekerk add excellent all-round value to RCB's line-up. Van Niekerk will most probably be a regular bowler for them because of the quality wrist-spin she offers. 65 T20I wickets at an average of 20.96 is no mean feat, and she has scored 1877 runs at an average of 28.01 as well.
Perry and Devine, on the other hand, will serve as backups for the regular pacers. In case one of the first-choice pacers go on to have a bad day, RCB always have these two players to step up and deliver with the ball. They are more than just backup bowlers, though. After all, Perry and Devine have a combined total of 230 wickets between themselves, and they average below 20 in T20Is as well, which is superb for any first-choice bowler as well.
Quality Pace Attack
RCB's pace bowling pair of Renuka Singh and Megan Schutt is a stuff of dreams as well. One is a rising Indian star and the other is an experienced veteran of Australian cricket, who has done the hard yards at the international stage all these years. Both will form a dream new ball pair, making the life of opposing batters difficult. To add to that, both are quite effective in the middle and death overs as well.
While Schutt has claimed 116 T20I wickets at an average of 16.12, Renuka has gone on to claim 24 wickets in 28 T20I already. There is a left-arm pacer like Komal Zanzad as well, who adds variety to RCB's pace attack. The 31-year-old pacer from Maharashtra might not be a big name, but she has the ability to work well in tandem with Schutt and Renuka.
Moreover, there are pace-bowling all-rounders like Perry, Devine and Kasat, who can always step up when something goes wrong with the first-choice trio. So, the pace attack looks well-rounded.
Despite all these qualities, RCB have some areas of concern as well.
Indian Backup Options Lack Top Level Experience
Spending big on international stars meant RCB didn't have the funds to get experienced Indian players as backup. They look really light on domestic batting strength. Only Indrani Roy is a recognized top-order batter in the Indian domestic circuit. Asha Shobana, Poonam Khemnar and Shreyanka Patil add all-round value, but they don't really have top-order quality and can't be trusted with the ball either.
Spin Attack Looks a Bit Underwhelming
Apart from Van Niekerk, who will bowl wrist-spin, Preeti Bose is expected to slot into the XI as the second spinner. She is a left-arm spinner who has proved her mettle in domestic cricket. Sahana Pawar is a left-arm spinner as well, who will serve as a decent backup, but other options looks quite underwhelming.
Overall verdict: RCB have some chinks, but their strengths outweigh their weaknesses. So, they are expected to enjoy a really good season where they could go to the final stages, and who knows! Maybe they can win their first title as well!
RCB Squad for WPL 2023
Smriti Mandhana (Rs 3.4 crore), Sophie Devine (Rs 50 lakh), Ellyse Perry (Rs 1.7 crore), Renuka Singh (Rs 1.5 crore), Richa Ghosh (Rs 1.9 crore), Erin Burns (Rs 30 lakh), Disha Kasat (Rs 10 lakh), Indrani Roy (Rs 10 lakh), Shreyanka Patil (Rs 10 lakh), Kanika Ahuja (Rs 35 lakh), Asha Shobana (Rs 10 lakh), Heather Knight (Rs 40 lakh), Dane van Niekerk (Rs 30 lakh), Preeti Bose (Rs 30 lakh), Poonam Khemnar (Rs 10 lakh), Komal Zanzad (Rs 25 lakh), Megan Schutt (Rs 40 lakh), Sahana Pawar (Rs 10 lakh)
Probable RCB Playing XI for WPL 2023
Smriti Mandhana (C), Sophie Devine, Ellyse Perry, Disha Kasat, Dane van Niekerk, Richa Ghosh (wk), Kanika Ahuja, Renuka Singh, Megan Schutt, Preeti Bose, Komal Zanzad
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