Royal Challengers Bangalore tick all the boxes in picks

For sixteen editions of the Indian Premier League, Royal Challengers Bangalore swore by ‘ee sala cup namde’ only to fall infuriatingly short each time.

Come March, Royal Challengers’ women’s team has a chance to do what their male counterparts couldn’t: win a title for Bengaluru. And, if takeaways from the inaugural Women’s Premier League auctions are anything to go by, they look in good stead.

After picking up Smriti Mandhana for a chart-topping Rs 340 lakh off the very first bid in the debut auction, the Royal Challengers went about bringing together a side full of serious talent and experience and garnished it with a hint of youth.

Mandhana’s purchase may have put a massive dent in their Rs 1200 lakh budget, but they seemed to have a strategy in picking the remaining 14 players (15 players mandatory). Also, the price on the tag seemed about right for their first-ever captain.

Read | WPL Auction 2023: RCB sign Smriti Mandhana, MI win bid for Harmanpreet Kaur

Soon after New Zealand all-rounder Sophie Devine was acquired for a bargain at her base price of Rs 50 lakhs, Australian great Ellysse Perry came at a justifiable cost (Rs 170 lakh), and Renuka Singh’s medium pace earned her Rs 150 lakh.

Richa Ghosh - one day after her whirlwind knock helped India defeat Pakistan in the ongoing Women’s T20 World Cup - was pouched for Rs 190 lakh to settle the wicketkeeper conversation. But by the time Ghosh was bought, Royal Challengers were down to Rs 300 lakh to pick the next ten players.

With Mike Hesson, the head coach of Royal Challengers’ men’s team, leading the charge since they haven’t named a coach yet, they made one prudent pick after another with support from scouts Malolan Rangarajan and VR Vanitha.

“The data is limited so you can't just sit on your phone and search and find out a whole deal lot about them,” said Hesson. “It's more about going out and getting different eyes on the players so you can validate your information. The data in terms of strike rate is pretty obsolete so we need to go out and get a number of scouts who can bring out the information”

Later in the auction, during the second accelerated set, Royal Challengers lucked out on the acquisitions of Heather Knight for her base price of Rs 40 lakh, the highly-talented South African Dane van Niekerk for Rs 30 lakh and the Australian speedster Megan Schutt for Rs 40 lakh.

Royal Challengers have six top-quality overseas players and a host of formidable Indian talent. They are going to hinge on seasoned players for decisions and rely on their youth for stamina. They also have a couple of local players in Shreyanka Patil, a 20-year-old off-spinner, and left-arm spinner Shana Shamsunder Pawar.

Seems a well-rounded unit, but the auction strategy seems familiar. Very familiar.

SQUAD: INDIAN: Smriti Mandhana (Rs 340), Renuka Singh (Rs 150 lakh), Richa Ghosh (Rs 190 lakh), Indrani Roy (Rs 10 lakh), Asha Shobana (Rs 10 lakh), Disha Kasat (Rs 10 lakh), Shreyanka Patil (Rs 10 lakh), Kanika Ahuja (Rs 35 lakh), Preeti Bose (Rs 30 lakh), Poonam Khemnar (Rs 10 lakh), Komal Zanzad (Rs 25 lakh), Sahana Pawar (Rs 10 lakh).

OVERSEAS: Sophie Devine (Rs 50 lakh), Elysse Perry (Rs 170 lakh), Erin Burns (Rs 30 lakh), Heather Knight (Rs 40 lakh), Dane van Niekerk (Rs 30 lakh), Megan Schutt (Rs 40 lakh).