Women's Premier League, SWOT Analysis: RCB

image-lei5ewtfSmriti Mandhana (Source: Twitter/@BangaloreWPL)

The landscape of Indian cricket changed with the advent of the Indian Premier League. Women's Premier League is knocking at the doors and the expectations are quite the same. There are talks about how this tournament is going to change women's cricket is interpreted in India. 

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We are just a week away from the tournament and it is time we get to know more about the teams that will be playing in the grand event. In this article, we will take a look at the team of Royal Challengers Bangalore. During the auction for the tournament, they looked intent and focused on the players they wanted in their squads. So after spending about 12 CR INR on the mega event, has RCB covered all the bases? Can they achieve what the men's team have not done yet? Let us take an analytical dive into RCB's team for the Women's Premier League season 1. 


Royal Challengers Bangalore's Squad Division

Here is a detailed look at RCB's squad. It will give us an idea about the resources they have ahead of the tournament. 

image-len9a88t(Source: OneCricket)


Strengths of RCB

  1. Well-Sorted Top Order: The top order of the RCB looks solid and very well-sorted. The presence of Smriti Mandhana, Sophie Devine, and Ellyse Perry ensures that in most of the matches, RCB will get off to a good and solid start. 
  2. Accumulation of World Class all-rounders: The presence of Sophie Devine, Ellyse Perry, Erin Burns, Danne van Niekerk, and Heather Knight allows a great bit of flexibility and dynamism to the RCB team management. All these players can adapt themselves according to the match situations and perform under pressure in any role assigned to them by the team. 
  3. Strong Leadership Group: The presence of players like Ellyse Perry, Sophie Devine and Heather Knight builds for a strong leadership group. These players will be a great aid to Smriti Mandhana while she will try to win the trophy as a skipper. 

Weaknesses of RCB

  1. Inexperienced spin department: RCB have assorted a strong and experienced pace department which includes Renuka Singh Thakur, Megan Schutt, and Ellyse Perry. But in the case of spinners, they have Preeti Bose, Sahana Pawar, Shreyanka Patil, and Asha Shobana. These bowlers have experience in the domestic circuit, but bowling against international-level players is a different ball game and that is where the spin department of RCB might fall short. 

Opportunities for RCB

  1. A chance for a relatively inexperienced crop of bowlers to prove their worth: Women's Premier League will be played on Indian pitches and the spinners will play a very key role in the tournament. But as mentioned earlier, the spin department of RCB is relatively inexperienced at the highest level of the game. This is where the opportunity lies for these players to prove themselves of worth in the middle overs and get themselves highlighted.

Threats for RCB

  1. Presence of injury-prone players: The three weeks of WPL will be hectic and tough on the players as they will have to play matches on the bounce. This makes the availability of players like Sophie Devine, Ellyse Perry, and Heather Knight doubtful as the players have suffered critical injuries often. If RCB find the right combination early then the absence of an important player might hurt their campaign.

image-leic5z0j(Source:OneCricket)

Prediction: The balance of the team seems good. But there are a few holes that they need to fill during the tournament by trying out different combinations. Smriti Mandhana as a skipper has shown that she can lead a team to a trophy. But how she handles the team and leads them will be crucial, but I feel the maximum they can go is till the play-offs, if RCB does win the inaugural edition of the Women's Premier League it will be a big surprise.