Smriti Mandhana Came out to be costly for RCB, one run costed Rs 2.72 lakh

The Royal Challengers Bangalore have had a dismal start to the Women’s Premier League (WPL). Despite the organisation assembled a star-studded group ahead of the first season, the team has been unable to achieve the results on the field. Smriti Mandhana was named captain after being the most expensive player to be acquired in the bidding war for Rs 3.4 crore.

On Tuesday, RCB will play its final WPL encounter, against the Mumbai Indians, who have advanced to the playoffs by excellent performance. Even in this match, Mandhana performed poorly with her bat and got out making just 24 runs.

Mandhana scored 24 runs in the final match. She played 25 balls for this, hitting three fours and a six. In terms of T20, this is a fairly sluggish innings. Mandhana’s best score this season was 37, which she achieved against Gujarat Giants in the penultimate match. Her bat was also in good shape in the team’s first game, but she was unable to turn it into a huge innings. Mandhana made 35 runs in the opening match against the Delhi Capitals. She scored total of 125 runs in eight matches in this competition. Her average over this period has been 17.85.

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In such a case, the crores of rupees invested by RCB in Mandhana were wasted. Mandhana was bought by the RCB for Rs 3.40 crore making her the most expensive player in the WPL. RCB had placed money on her in the expectation that she would shine and win the title, but Mandhana was unable to shine her bat, and the hope that RCB had bet on her did not work in the first season.

Pressure of Captaincy
Mandhana is regarded as one of the top batsman in women’s cricket. Before to the WPL, she batted excellently in the ICC Women’s T20 World Cup, scoring 87 against Ireland and 52 against England. Yet, she was unable to walk in the women’s league. One factor might be that she couldn’t handle the pressures of leadership. It is commonly observed that many cricket players are unable to give their utmost owing to captaincy.

Also Read: Mithali Raj defends Gujarat Giants after WPL elimination: We lost key players and it dented our composition (cricfiles.com)

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