Smriti Mandhana-led Royal Challengers Bangalore have made a disastrous start to their campaign in the inaugural season of the Women’s Premier League. RCB has lost their first four games with their fourth defeat coming against Up Warriorz by 10 wickets.
Speaking ahead of their clash against Delhi Capitals, On RCB’s game day, Smriti Mandhana admitted that it was a tough start for them as a team facing four defeats in a trot and added that team had some tough conversation in the dressing room after their loss against UP Warriorz. The RCB skipper continued that the girls reacted well to the situation and help to keep the team’s spirits high.
“This is the toughest start. after the fourth match, we had those hard chats in the dressing room, with the coach and with Mike around. It’s not the best place to be around as a team, but the girls have been amazing, the way they have reacted to this, I did not expect them to be so close together,” Mandhana said.
Speaking on what went wrong for the Bangalore-based outfit, Mandhana stressed that her side lacked to perform in both batting and bowling departments and has been outplayed in all the matches. Ahead of the clash against Delhi capitals who currently sitting second in the points table said they had spoken to the bowlers about their plans and wanted them to apply them in crucial situations.
“We have not had the best of starts, can’t even say that the batting went well or the bowling went well. We were lacking in both departments, we have to work and solve the problems. The practice sessions before the games are really important, we spoke to the bowlers, and had one-on-one sessions, where we spoke about how to contribute more.”
Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) will next take on Delhi Capitals on their 5th league match of the Women’s Premier League and will look to register their first win in the tournament.
I Need To Work On A Few Things – Smriti Mandhana On Her Batting
Smriti Mandhana has been going through a poor form in WPL scoring only 80 runs in four matches so far. Earlier in the auction, Smriti Mandhana became the most expensive player at the inaugural Women’s Premier League (WPL) auction after the Royal Challengers Bangalore snapped her for a Whopping INR 3.4 crore.
“In terms of my batting as well, I had to work on a few things to get the team to the best score possible and with bowlers, I think mostly, we had to have that clarity to tell them and maybe focus on these few balls. So, hopefully, we can correct them.”
Smriti Mandhana could not score runs on a good batting wicket and the team has usually brought in the spinners to attack her earlier in the innings. Mandhana would look to rectify her mistakes and score some runs for her team to register their first win in WPL 2023.