Royal Challengers Bangalore Women

Royal Challengers Bangalore Squad 2023

About

Royal Challengers Bangalore is a franchise cricket team owned by United Spirits Limited, a Diageo Group Company. RCB is the abbreviated version of the team popularly recognised around the world. The franchise has been participating since the inception of the Indian Premier League (IPL) in 2008.

Royal Challengers Sports Pvt. Ltd bought one of the five franchises in the inaugural edition of the Women's Premier League for a staggering sum of INR 901 crores. India women's team flamboyant opener Smriti Mandhana was named captain of the RCB for the WPL 2023.

RCB has a full strength squad of 18 members, including six overseas players. Australian all-rounder Ellyse Perry, New Zealand captain Sophie Devine, England captain Heather Knight and South Africa's Dane van Niekerk are part of the star-studded line-up at RCB.

RCB Women's Team Administration and Support Staff

Team Director: Mike Hesson

Head of Operations: Soumyadeep Pyne

Head Coach: Ben Sawyer

Assistant coach and Head of Scouting: Malolan Rangarajan

Batting Coach: RX Murali

Fielding coach and Scout: Vanitha VR

Team Mentor: Sania Mirza

Team Manager and Team Doctor: Dr. Harini

Head Athletic Therapist: Navnita Gautam

Strength and Conditioning Coach: Huzefa Talib

Head Physio: Sabyasachi Sahoo

Team Sponsors

Muthoot FinCorp, an Indian non-banking financial company, will continue as the title sponsor of the RCB for 2023 season. RCB has many more sponsors for the team such as DP World, Exide, Jio, MPL, Boat, Munch, Puma, etc.

However, there is no confirmation whether the women's team will have the same sponsors or there will be separate ones for them.

Fan Base

Royal Challengers Bangalore has undoubtedly the most loyal fan base in the world. Not just in the city of Bengaluru but their fans are present in nook and cranny of the world. RCB has 9.7 million followers on Instagram, 6.4 million followers on Twitter and 9.4 million likes on their Facebook page.

RCB has 3.29 millions subscribers on its official YouTube channel. The supporters of RCB has an official fan club by the name of RCB 12th Man Army. The Instagram page of rcbfans.official has more than 1 million followers.

RCB 2023 WPL Squad - Players to watch out

Smriti Mandhana

The Indian opener Smriti Mandhana will don the captain's armband for RCB in WPL 2023. She has amassed 2800 runs in 115 T20 Internationals at a strike rate of 124.05 with the help of 22 half-centuries.

She hit 622 runs in 23 T20I innings in 2018, which is the most runs scored by the left-handed batter in a particular calendar year.

Mandhana has plied her trade in the overseas leagues such as Brisbane Heat women and Sydney Thunder women in the Women's Big Bash League in Australia. She also plays for Southern Brave (Women) in the Women's Hundred in England.

Despite missing a game in the 2023 Women's T20 World Cup group stage, Mandhana ended as the second most run-scorer in the group stage with 149 runs in three innings, including her career-best figures of 87 against Ireland in her last game.

Ellyse Perry

Ellyse Perry is the global icon of the game and women's cricket thanks to her explosive gameplan that makes her a dominant all-rounder of her generation.

The New South Wales player has scored 1526 runs in 82 innings at a strike rate of 112.12 while picking 122 wickets at an economy rate of 5.83. She is the fourth highest wicket-taker in Women's T20Is (standings likely to change at the end of T20 World Cup).

Perry finished twice as the leading run-scorer in the Women's Big Bash League (WBBL) for Sydney Sixers. She scored 552 runs in 2017-18 and 778 runs in 2018-19 seasons to finish the tournament's highest run-getter in back-to-back sessons.

She has been part of two WBBL winning camaigns with the Sixers in the 2016-17 and 2017-18 seasons. The Sydney Sixers captain was injured late in 2016-17 season but went on to lead the team for the whole season in their next title year.

Perry has the best batting strike rate of 170 in the ongoing T20 World Cup with 51 runs in a couple of innings.

Richa Ghosh

The 19-year-old Bengal player, Richa Ghosh is a talent to look for any side. RCB purchased the wicketkeeper-batter for INR 1.90 crore against her base price of INR 50 lakhs. It just tells the kind of player she can blossom if backed with ample of opportunities.

Ghosh was the part of India's historic victory at the ICC Women's U19 World Cup in South Africa in January. Ghosh was unbeaten for the senior women's team in three of four innings in the group stage.

The Indian wicketkeeper has scored 122 runs in four innings at a strike rate of 140.23. Only Mandhana has a better strike rate in the Indian team than the youngster.

During India's intense chase against Pakistan in their tournament opener in Cape Town, Ghosh slammed three fours on the trot off Aiman Anwer's bowling. She was involved in an 58-run unbroken stand with half-centurion Jemimah Rodrigues as India won by seven wickets with an over to spare.

Sophie Devine

Sophie Devine is the current white-ball captain of New Zealand women's team. She has scored 2969 runs in 119 T20I matches and is the second most run-scorer of New Zealand in the shortest format after Suzie Bates (3820).

She can be a strong option for the RCB in the middle-order as she bats at No.4 for the White Ferns in T20Is.

During the fourth T20I against South Africa in February 2020 in Wellington, Devine registered her career-best score of 105. It was the first instance for the Wellington player to reach three-figure mark in T20Is, albeit she has three centuries to her name in WBBL.

She hit the fastest T20 hundred by a women's batter in 36 balls while playing a domestic match for Wellington Blaze against Otago Sparks in January 2021.

Renuka Singh Thakur

Renuka Singh Thakur has emerged into the ranks of a genuine fast bowler to take the responsibility for the new-ball. She can move the balls either ways to get early wickets for her side.

She finished as the leading wicket-taker at the 2022 Commonwealth Games in Birmingham - 11 wickets at an average of 9.45. She announced her arrival in the tournament with an impressive 4/18 against Australia.

The 27-year-old, who hails from Shimla in Himachal Pradesh, has accounted for seven dismissals in four matches in the ongoing T20 World Cup. She bagged her maiden five-wicket haul in the shortest format during India's Group B match against England in Gqeberha. Her 5/15 from four overs went in vain as India lost by 11 runs.