3 things that went wrong for RCB in WPL 2023
Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) haven't had a great run in the inaugural season of the Women's Premier League as they are one of the two teams, along with Gujarat Giants, to be knocked out of the tournament. The Bengaluru-based franchise won just two games out of their share of eight, managing to put up only four points on the board.
RCB, led by Smriti Mandhana, did well to remain in the race after losing their first five games, but that's about it as far as the happy memories for them are concerned. It was a terrible season which culminated with a defeat against Mumbai Indians today (March 21).
Here, we look at three things that went wrong for the franchise and eventually hindered their progress in WPL 2023.
#1 Smriti Mandhana's form
Smriti Mandhana, for whom the RCB management broke the bank, had a poor season as she was only able to score 149 runs in 8 innings. Mandhana's highest score was 37 and her strike-rate of 111.19 was also below the standards. Mandhana's poor run meant that the team never got the desired starts with the bat and were left to chase the game.
#2 Renuka Thakur's form
If Mandhana disappointed with the bat, Renuka Singh Thakur did it with the ball. Bangalore spent the big bucks on Thakur but she couldn't really honor the trust the franchise had bestowed on her. In 6 games, she only picked up one wicket and leaked runs at a rate of 9.54 per over.
Renuka's poor form meant that the other inexperienced bowlers were always under pressure and thus, their bowling line-up never really threatened oppositions.
#3 RCB's Auction Strategy
At the auction, RCB did well to assemble a brilliant batting line-up. However, they compromised on their bowling and that proved quite costly. The batters didn't perform on a consistent basis and the poor form of Renuka Singh Thakur and Megan Schutt meant that there was suddenly a shortage of bowling resources.
Youngsters like Preeti Bose, Kanika Ahuja, Asha Shobana, and Shreyanka Patil were under massive pressure because of this and can't be blamed for their poor showings.