WPL 2024: Smriti Mandhana reveals her role in RCB roping in Luke Williams as head coach

Having played under Williams at Southern Brave in The Hundred, Mandhana admitted that his was the first name that came to her mind when the management asked her for her preference.

FILE PHOTO: Mandhana explained that much of the planning for the WPL was done during The Hundred and the international window. | Photo Credit: THE HINDU

Women’s Premier League-winning Royal Challengers Bangalore captain Smriti Mandhana revealed that she had a role to play in bringing Luke Williams on board as head coach.

Having played under Williams at Southern Brave in The Hundred, Mandhana admitted that his was the first name that came to her mind when the management asked her for her preference.

“I’ve seen Luke Williams operate for the last few years at Southern Brave and have been following his work at Adelaide Strikers as well. Tahlia McGrath, who I get along with during The Hundred, also gave me some insight into Luke. So, when the management asked me if I had anyone in mind... Ben(Sawyer) was great... but when I was asked, the first name that came to my mind was that of Luke Williams. He’s really big on building a good culture and that’s so necessary in the first few years for a team. If we get the basics right then we can build on it. He’s done that so well at Adelaide,” Mandhana told reporters.

The 27-year-old explained that much of the planning for the WPL was done during The Hundred and the international window.

“I did approach him during The Hundred. Charlotte Edwards is my coach there but we’d speak from time to time on what we needed to do in the auction and other things. The Hundred is where we started jotting down a few names, tracking a few players. Sophie Molineux was one of them. She was injured so we had to track her. We were playing international cricket then and my focus was entirely there but we would have the odd phone call here and there to discuss our plans and the way forward. We’re really big on playing like a family and the biggest part of the planning went into that.”

Mandhana also said that her decision to skip the Women’s Big Bash League (WBBL) to play in the Indian domestic scene went a long way in her preparation for this edition of the WPL.

“Playing domestic cricket was a conscious decision. This helped as a player and as RCB captain. I had not played domestic for a few years and sometimes when you hear names, you don’t recognise them or you don’t get the full picture just by watching videos. We have a great scouting team. But when you’re facing them, even as a fielder, you realise she has a spark. Also, for me as a player, I wanted to get used to Indian conditions as I had been playing only overseas for a while,” she explained.