(Image source: X.com)
[Saba Sports News] Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) captain Smriti Mandhana hoped that the Women’s Premier League (WPL) sees more venues hosting the games in future.
The entire inaugural season of the WPL held in 2023 was scheduled in Mumbai. As the league is growing in popularity, Mandhana wants it to be played in a multi-city format, desiring that she gets to play for the RCB in front of the home crowd at the M. Chinnaswamy Stadium.
“It would be great to have WPL in the multi-city format. I think that might be the next step and I am sure the people right here would look into it and make it happen. As an RCB fan, I would love to play in Chinnaswamy where people are chanting ‘RCB RCB’ and just to be in that environment,” Mandhana said as quoted at RCB Innovation Lab’s Leaders Meet India summit.
“That is something which is one step ahead for us that it (multi-city format) can reach to places where women’s cricket hasn’t reached and to get new audience going into women’s cricket,” she added.
The WPL 2024 auction is scheduled on December 9. RCB finished fourth in the five-team tournament in the previous season under the leadership of Mandhana.
As the auction is nearing, Mandhana talked about their strategy, sharing that they have a list of players, which they will target in the bidding war to build strong combinations.
“A lot of thoughts have gone into what kind of combinations we need in terms of releases or retention. So, we are looking forward to the WPL auctions and hopefully, we get the players who we are looking forward to getting,” Mandhana stated.