“Franchise not winning a trophy adds pressure” - Venkatesh Prasad analyzes RCB’s woes in WPL 2023

Former Indian pacer Venkatesh Prasad reckons that Royal Challengers Bangalore’s (RCB) inability to win the Indian Premier League (IPL) added additional pressure on the women’s team when they headed into the Women’s Premier League (WPL) 2023. Prasad added that RCB lost early momentum by going down in the first game and could not pick themselves up.

Bangalore lost their first five games in a row in WPL 2023, with most of them by comprehensive margins. Smriti Mandhana and Co. broke their losing streak by defeating UP Warriorz by five wickets in their sixth match played at the DY Patil Sports Academy in Mumbai.

With only two points from six matches, RCB are all but out of the playoffs race, with only a slim mathematical chance of progressing to the next round.

In a select media interaction, Prasad, Sports18, and Jio Cinema expert shared his views on Bangalore’s struggles while speaking to News18 Cricketnext. He said:

“The franchise not winning a trophy with men’s team adds pressure on Smriti. So obviously they were looking for a change in fortune, but that’s not happened so far. And on top of that, the team is not doing well, they’re not gelling, together, and they didn’t have a great start.

“In the very first game, they lost. They lost momentum and they were not able to sort of gel together and come back as a unit.”

Bangalore began their WPL 2023 campaign with a 60-run loss to Delhi Capitals (DC). Their bowlers conceded 223 runs while claiming only two wickets in 20 overs. In reply, RCB were held to 163/8.

Skipper Mandhana, who was the most expensive player at the WPL 2023 auction at ₹3.4 crore, has also failed to deliver to expectations. The left-hander has scored only 88 runs in six matches. Her captaincy too has come under the scanner. Sharing his views on Mandhana’s woes as player and captain, Prasad explained:

“She’s been the most expensive player in the auction. And secondly, she’s playing for a franchise that always had Virat Kohli in their ranks and AB de Villiers and Chris Gayle, and having not won an IPL tournament, that’s another pressure as well on Smriti.

“Her captaincy also is not looking good only because she’s not getting runs. You might not be getting runs, but you might be leading the team very well, and the others are running around and winning matches for you. Then your form doesn’t matter much. But, when you’re on a losing side and, as a captain, you’re not doing well in your batting, the pressure mounts.”

Mandhana has registered a highest score of 35 in six innings so far. She was bowled for a duck against UP Warriorz.

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“RCB is not identifying local talent” - Prasad

The former India pacer also opined that the RCB management as a whole seems to be lacking when it comes to scouting for domestic talent, be it the men’s or the women’s team. The 53-year-old elaborated:

“I’m not very sure about the team manager. I don’t want to talk about that because it’s been the same team management even for the IPL as well. So the men’s team also has not done well. So I think one thing they have lost out on, RCB is not identifying the local talent. Towards the end, they just bought a couple of local players, but that is not how it goes.

“I think you need to give respect to the local talent, which has not happened whether it’s men or in the WPL."

Bangalore’s men’s team have reached the IPL final three times, but have finished runners-up on all three occasions.