Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) Women purchased seven players at the Women’s Premier League (WPL) 2024 auction in Mumbai on Saturday, December 9, also filling up their three overseas slots in the process.
RCB Women first purchased Australian leg-spinner Georgia Wareham for ₹40 lakh. The 24-year-old has 44 T20I scalps in 46 matches at an average of 15.97. The franchise also bought England medium pacer Kate Cross for ₹30 lakh.
RCB Women subsequently went for 37-year-old veteran Indian left-arm spinner Ekta Bisht and picked her up for ₹60 lakh. Bisht has 53 wickets in 42 T20Is. RCB Women also picked up Karnataka batter Shubha Satheesh for ₹10 lakh.
Their last three purchases in the auction where India batter S Meghana (₹30 lakh), bowling all-rounder Simran Bahadur (₹30 lakh) and Australian left-arm spinner Sophie Molineux (₹30 lakh).
Players purchased by RCB Women at WPL 2024 auction
Georgia Wareham (₹40 lakh)
Kate Cross (₹30 lakh)
Ekta Bisht (₹60 lakh)
Shubha Satheesh (₹10 lakh)
S Meghana (₹30 lakh)
Simran Bahadur (₹30 lakh)
Sophie Molineux (₹30 lakh)
List of RCB Women players retained ahead of the WPL 2024 auction
Below is the list of players retained by RCB Women ahead of the auction.
Asha Shobana, Disha Kasat, Ellyse Perry, Heather Knight, Indrani Roy, Kanika Ahuja, Renuka Singh, Richa Ghosh, Shreyanka Patil, Smriti Mandhana, Sophie Devine.
Complete RCB Women squad after WPL 2024 auction
This is how RCB Women’s WPL 2024 squad looks after their auction purchases.
Georgia Wareham, Kate Cross, Ekta Bisht, Shubha Satheesh, S Meghana, Simran Bahadur, Sophie Molineux, Asha Shobana, Disha Kasat, Ellyse Perry, Heather Knight, Indrani Roy, Kanika Ahuja, Renuka Singh, Richa Ghosh, Shreyanka Patil, Smriti Mandhana, Sophie Devine.
How RCB Women fared in the inaugural edition of WPL
There were high hopes from RCB Women ahead of the inaugural Women’s Premier League. However, the Smriti Mandhana-led side had a highly disappointing season, winning only two of their eight matches and finishing fourth in the points table among five teams.
In a disastrous showing, RCB Women lost their first five matches in a row, before registering wins in the next two. However, they bowed out of the T20 league with a four-wicket loss to eventual champions, Mumbai Indians Women.
Skipper Mandhana had a poor season with the willow, managing only 149 runs in eight innings at an average of 18.62 and a strike rate of 111.19 with a best of 37. Sophie Devine and Ellyse Perry impressed, scoring 266 and 253 runs respectively. With the ball, Shreyanka Patil picked up six wickets.
Ahead of the WPL 2024 auction, RCB Women released Dané Van Niekerk, Erin Burns, Komal Zanzad, Megan Schutt, Poonam Khemnar, Preeti Bose and Sahana Pawar.
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