RCB has a Mine of Uncapped Players But is Short of Skills to Utilise Them
Uncapped players: Royal Challengers Bangalore [Source: wplt20.com]
In the bombastic inaugural edition of the Women's Premier League, a new talent showcasing platform was served to women's cricket. WPL is a gold mine for international players, serving as an extra-income, extra-fixture one stop shop. But the players that are going to get the most out of the tournament are the domestic players.
The biggest trump card of any franchise league is what it does for the local players. Rubbing shoulders with the best of the game, having their time in the limelight and earning a few good bucks while getting a funnel to discovery.
RCB and their mine of uncapped players
So far, the tournament has witnessed more than a handful of extraordinary performances by the hands of domestic players who were hidden in the shadows all these years. The franchises, mentored by former women cricketers have picked the best out of the uncapped domestic players. One such franchise is the Royal Challengers Bangalore.
RCB has a mine of uncapped players who have been phenomenal in the domestic circuit but have failed to make it to the Indian team. It's not that these players lack the skills to make it to international cricket, it's just that they had been overlooked or have failed to be noticed.
Kanika Ahuja (Source: Twitter)
In the last RCB match against UP Warriorz, Shreyanka Patil and Kanika Ahuja put on display a striking performance to clinch the first win of the tournament. When looking at their squad, it is clear that the franchise has a mine of uncapped players, possibly the best of the cream but hasn't found the best way to utilise their skills.
Who are these uncapped players?
Although RCB has had an unfortunate run in the tournament, there have been a few promising and consistent performances. The best being Kanika Ahuja and Shreyanka Patil. Their performances have looked something like this:
- Kanika Ahuja: 22(13) SR 169.23, 10(7) SR 142.82, 46(30) SR 153.33
- Shreyanka Patil: 23 (15) SR 169.23, 11* (4) SR 275.00, 15 (10) SR 150.0
Apart from batting consistently at the lower order, Shreyanka Patil is a consistent performer with the ball, in the Senior One Day Trophy she scalped 20 wickets for her state Karnataka.
Shreyanka Patil (Source: Twitter)
RCB also has a plethora of untapped potential like Komal Zanzad, a 31 year old left-arm pacer who's famous for scalping all 10 wickets in a domestic fixture.
Disha Kasat, a right arm batter hailing from Vidarbha has represented India A, India Red and is a regular at the Challenger Trophy, a clean hitter of the ball with sound technical skills, Disha has topped the batting charts at the Senior Women's T20 Trophy tournament with a total of 300 runs and a strike rate of 114.50.
Indrani Roy is an apt all-rounder from Jharkhand, apart from bowling, Roy is a trusted batter at the top of the order. She represents Railways Women in the domestic circuit, a team only the best of the best get into.
It is evident that the Royal Challengers Bangalore squad is one filled with grit and talent. RCB management has no doubt done an incredible job while picking out the squad but it may or may not lack the knowledge utilise their skills to bring out the dept of the team.
 "Gargi Raut")
