Bengaluru, September 28: Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB), the defending Women’s Premier League champions, have retained 13 players ahead of the TATA WPL 2027 Player Auction.
Smriti Mandhana will carry on as captain. Ellyse Perry is back in the RCB squad and is one of the four overseas players the franchise has kept.
RCB retained players for WPL 2027
Smriti Mandhana (captain), Georgia Voll, Nadine de Klerk, Ellyse Perry, Shreyanka Patil, Sayali Satghare, Richa Ghosh, Prathyoosha Kumar, Lauren Bell, Arundhati Reddy, Pooja Vastrakar, Radha Yadav and Prema Rawat.
Four players released
RCB have let go of Dayalan Hemalatha, Gautami Naik, Grace Harris and Linsey Smith before the auction.
Head coach Malolan Rangarajan thanked the released group for their part in the title run. “It’s really important to appreciate the effort and commitment with which these players have played for RCB. They played an integral part in us winning our second title, and I want to take this opportunity to thank them again for all the effort they put in,” he said.
Coach wants a better side at the auction
Rangarajan said Perry’s return strengthens the team across the board, but made it clear that keeping a title-winning core is not the end of the job.
“With Ellyse returning to our squad, it bolsters the team in all departments. We’ve had the benefit and privilege of being able to retain a major core of our squad, 13 players. This is obviously a winning combination, but it’s important to realise that we expect improvement in their performance. The intent with which we want to approach this auction is to improve our team,” he said.
