WPL 2023: “You Can Come Up To Me Anytime, Share Your Experience And Help Me As Well”

The Royal Challengers Bangalore Women (RCB) will start their campaign in the inaugural edition of the Women’s Premier League (WPL) by taking on the Delhi Capitals Women (DC) at the Brabourne Stadium in Mumbai on Sunday, March 5. Skipper Smriti Mandhana spoke about her “conversations” with her teammates prior to their opening match against the Delhi Capitals.

Smriti Mandhana has been appointed as the captain of the RCB, having the experience of leading Team India in the absence of Harmanpreet Kaur for a few matches. The left-handed batter was the first player to go under the hammer at the WPL auction and became the most expensive player of the tournament after being bought by RCB for a whopping amount of 3.4 crore.

Important For Me To Reach Out To Them – Smriti Mandhana

Smriti Mandhana believes that it is important to reach out to the domestic players so that everyone is on the same wavelength when they take to the field for their opening match against the Delhi Capitals.

“With domestic players, it’s important as a leader to reach out because everything is new for them. I don’t make them feel that I play for India. Just have that normal conversation. It was important for me to reach out to them. Any girl shouldn’t feel that she has been left out,” Mandhana said.

They All Are Leaders In Their Own Terms – Smriti Mandhana

Mandhana urged overseas players to come to her and share their experience from international cricket, as they are leaders in their own terms.

“We have an amazing overseas bunch. They all are leaders in their own terms. So, I just told them ‘you can come up to me anytime, share your experience and help me as well’. Once we had that conversation, it just went smoothly. It wasn’t really that hard with the kind of people we have on our roster,” said Mandhana.

The Bangalore-based franchise bought New Zealand captain Sophie Devine and England captain Heather Knight, as well as Australian all-rounder Ellyse Perry, who has been part of six T20 World Cup-winning sides.

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