Given the kind of setbacks her team has had to deal with even before WPL 3 got underway, it was a tribute to her character that Smriti Mandhana could flash that winning smile of hers so often on Thursday evening.
The past few weeks saw Royal Challengers Bengaluru losing some of its key personnel due to injury or personal reasons. Sophie Devine, New Zealand’s T20 World Cup-winning captain, has taken a break. Sophie Molineux and Asha Sobhana, the two spinners who shared 24 wickets evenly to help RCB finally win a trophy, are injured. Asha has been replaced in the squad by wicket-keeper Nuzhat Parween while Charlie Dean, the Australia bowling all-rounder replaced Molineux.
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Talking to reporters ahead of RCB’s match against Gujarat Giants, Smriti said the team had been bracing for the unavailability of Asha. “She was pretty much one of our main-wicket takers for us last year, but when she got injured during the World Cup we knew that might not get her services,” she said. “But we wanted to retain her at the auction. Since we knew that she might be unavailable, we went hard at the auction for Prema (Rawat).”
Smriti admitted losing both the Sophies was a blow, but said that she was relieved that Ellyse Perry joined the team. “We look like a complete side now,” she said. “We are really looking forward to the WPL’s third edition.”
While this is going to be the third WPL for Smriti as captain, it is going to be a first for Gujarat Giants’ Ashleigh Gardner. She has a task on her hands, though. The Giants had finished at the bottom in both the previous editions.
“We are ready to rewrite the books,” the champion Australian all-rounder said. “We are confident and it is awesome that we are finally going to play in front of our home fans.”
