WPL 2023: Smriti Mandhana leading RCB is ‘highly likely’, says Mike Hesson

RCB won a bidding war with Mumbai Indians to secure the service of Smriti Mandhana for a whopping Rs 3.4 crore.

FILE PHOTO: Indian cricketer Smriti Mandhana chases the ball during the ICC Women’s World Cup 2017 match against Pakistan at County Ground in Derby, England, on July 2, 2017. 

Royal Challengers Bangalore was engaged in a bidding war with Mumbai Indians to rope in Smriti Mandhana for a whopping Rs 3.4 crore, indicating that the franchise was looking at the star Indian women’s cricket team batter as its potential captain for the inaugural edition of the Women’s Premier League (WPL).

“Smriti got plenty of captaincy experience. She is one of the players who know the conditions well, so that’s highly likely,” said Mike Hesson, the RCB director of cricket, about the possibility of Mandhana leading the Bengaluru-based franchise in the tournament.

In the first set, RCB also roped in the seasoned Sophie Devine for Rs 50 lakh and Ellyse Perry for Rs 1.70 crore. And, Hesson believes that the presence of the senior players would help in forming an experienced leadership group.

“For leadership, you need senior players around you. In the first set, we have got some highly experienced senior players,” said Hesson.

RCB was one of the first franchises to start talent scouting way back in October. It appointed former India batter V.R. Vanitha as its scouting head, who would visit across the country to watch games across age groups, and Hesson believes that will come in handy as the auction progresses.

“It would probably help towards the back end. Everybody knows Smriti Mandhana and Ellyse Perry. We were pretty committed to a couple of people we wanted to get. We are happy to get quality players like Smriti, Sophie Devine and Ellyse Perry in the first group was a dream for us really,” he said.

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Talking about the decision behind having a dedicated talent scouting team, Hesson said, “You can’t just look at your phone and search. It is about going out there and getting a number of eyes around there, to have your information. Find out about the strike rate and watch a number of players. We want to get our data, video and all that.”

At the beginning of the second set, RCB secured the service of pacer Renuka Singh Thakur for Rs 1.50 crore.