“There’s a joke running in the team after this game that we started the season on a high and ended it on a high but just lost (the plot) somewhere in between. That pretty much sums up our season,” Smriti Mandhana said with a wry smile after Royal Challengers Bengaluru signed off from the third edition of the Women’s Premier League with a consolatory win over Mumbai Indians here on Tuesday.
The victory helped it evade a last-place finish – a big drop from the side’s championship glory last season. While being able to make light of the situation, Smriti addressed some of the pitfalls plaguing her team head-on, including her own disappointing showing with the bat.
“Having lost a lot of players from last season (to injuries and withdrawal – Sophie Molineux, Sophie Devine, Kate Cross etc), post the auction, we definitely had our thinking shoes on between the auction and the season. Seeing how we started (with two wins in the first two games), I thought we were in it. But a lot of things didn’t go our way in Bengaluru.”
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“Losing a lot of close matches is not easy on a team. Our first few losses were pretty close but everyone stayed positive. Even till the last match in Lucknow, everyone went in thinking we still had a chance and wanted to go out there and win it. I am really pleased about that as a captain.”
Smriti identified the first two losses in Bengaluru as the turning point for the team which began the downward slide.
“There is something called cricketing God, which I believe a lot in. Sometimes you do a lot of things right, and in the last two or three overs, things don’t go your way. We won last year by nailing those moments, those tight games. This time, we couldn’t make those moments ours. If we had done those game rights, that momentum could have carried us to the top of the pile, who knows?
“I don’t want to throw anyone under the bus. As a team, we could have all contributed a lot more. As a batter in the mid-phase, I wasn’t able to score a lot of runs. Everyone has a part, win or lose.”
Despite finishing with just three wins this season, some of the best performances – with the bat especially – came from RCB players.
Ellyse Perry had a mindblowing season where she amassed 372 runs at a staggering average of 93 with four fifties. Richa Ghosh was hot and cold, but when she sunk into the surface, there was no stopping her – case in point, her whirlwind 33-ball 69 against the UP Warriorz. Smriti – who hailed the Indian player pool in the team for stepping up in key moments – was particularly effusive in her praise for the young keeper batter.
Richa Ghosh of Royal Challengers Bangalore during match 20 of the Women’s Premier League 2025 (WPL) between the Mumbai Indians and the Royal Challengers Bangalore held at the Brabourne Stadium, Mumbai, India on the 11th March 2025.
| Photo Credit:
Sportzpics for WPL
Richa Ghosh of Royal Challengers Bangalore during match 20 of the Women’s Premier League 2025 (WPL) between the Mumbai Indians and the Royal Challengers Bangalore held at the Brabourne Stadium, Mumbai, India on the 11th March 2025.
| Photo Credit:
Sportzpics for WPL
“Richa is a sight to watch. When she’s out there, neither dugout can sit peacefully. No equation is less or more for her because she can single-handedly turn the game. The rest of us see the short side and longer side (of the boundary), but batters like Richa just see the ball and hit with power.
“That said, people always associate her only with power, but her cuts and reverse sweeps today, her switch hits…so much work has gone into her. I’ve seen her grow over the last three years, and I think her work ethic over the past year in particular has been really good.”
