WOMEN'S CRICKET

Mandhana hopes WPL will inspire more women to play cricket

Smriti Mandhana

Smriti Mandhana, the captain of Royal Challengers Bangalore Women’s team, expressed her optimism about the WPL motivating more women to participate in cricket. She believes that all the players are determined to make a significant impact in the tournament. She said she is hopeful that it’ll inspire young players to take up cricket seriously.

The WPL 2023 commenced on Saturday, March 4, with the first match played between Gujarat Giants and Mumbai Indians. Mumbai Indians won the first game by a huge margin of 143 runs. Gujarat Giants were bundled for mere 64, chasing 208. Harmanpreet Kaur had an excellent outing. She scored 65 runs in only 30 balls. In bowling department, Saika Ishaque took 4 wickets for MI to seal the deal. MI also broke the curse of losing the 1st game of the tournament.

MANDHANA WAS THE MOST EXPENSIVE PLAYER IN WPL AUCTION

Bangalore will start their WPL 2023 journey with a daytime match against Delhi Capitals on 5th March. Smriti Mandhana expressed her excitement about leading the RCB franchise:

“First of all, I should thank the RCB management for giving me this opportunity. I’m very excited to be a part of and lead a legacy team like the RCB. It is an exciting opportunity and at the same time challenging. The WPL is a landmark tournament in the history of women’s cricket. And I hope we all will be inspiring a lot many women to take up the sports through our performance and presence.”

Mandhana further said:

“It’s extremely encouraging for us to see a franchise like RCB to commit to this larger cause of equal participation of women and invest a round sum of money to get a team and contribute to the growth of India.”

RCB Women’s squad:

Smriti Mandhana (captain), Sophie Devine, Ellyse Perry, Renuka Singh, Richa Ghosh, Erin Burns, Disha Kasat, Indrani Roy, Shreyanka Patil, Kanika Ahuja, Asha Shobana, Heather Knight, Dane van Niekerk, Preeti Bose, Poonam Khemnar, Komal Zanzad, Megan Schutt, Sahana Pawar.

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