Royal Challengers Bangalore will hope that the firepower in the squad translates to results.

Intro:

Even if it was just the inaugural season for the women's team in 2023, Royal Challengers Bangalore lived up to its reputation, not necessarily the merriest, as a franchise of a host of star players coming together but unable to deliver the promised results.

Shreyanka Patil and Kanika Ahuja, two young cricketers made a mark last season, and while RCB would hope for a few more youngsters to shine through this season, the reliance would still be on its international stars to get the victories churning and the show running.

While much of the playing and coaching core is still intact, in this endeavour of being far away from the wooden spoon, the franchise has roped in Luke Williams, the former South Australian cricketer, as the head coach for this season to help flip the charge of the team.

There is a bit of success to his CV, having led Adelaide Strikers to a WBBL title and finishing as finalists twice, apart from having served as assistant to Charlotte Edwards in Southern Brave. But the question is, does he have the nous to turn the fortunes of a trophy-less franchise around?

Where did they finish last season: Second last, with only two wins from eight games. They marginally edged out Gujarat Giants to the fourth spot on Net Run Rate.

What did they try to address in the mini-auction?

They retained only 11 players from last year's team and then went on to bag seven at the auction, which included some steal deals. Their most expensive buy, interestingly, was the veteran left-arm spinner Ekta Bisht, who was snapped for Rs 60 lac.

Having released Erin Burns and Dane van Niekerk, RCB picked up the Australian spin bowling all-round duo of Sophie Molineux and Georgia Wareham at the auctions. Megan Schutt was replaced by Kate Cross.

However, once the venue of the tournament was finalised, and two players from the original squad had to be released - Heather Knight (withdrawn) and Kanika Ahuja (injury) - RCB added muscle to its pace bowling department instead of going for like-for-like replacements, signing up seam-bowling all-rounder Nadine de Klerk and left-arm pacer Shraddha Pokharkar. With spinners unlikely to have an upperhand in the Bengaluru leg, the replacements could have a role, although unlikely to make the XI.

Squad: Asha Shobana, Disha Kasat, Ellyse Perry*, Indrani Roy, Nadine de Klerk*, Renuka Singh, Richa Ghosh, Shraddha Pokharkar, Shreyanka Patil, Smriti Mandhana (C), Sophie Devine*, Georgia Wareham*, Kate Cross*, Ekta Bisht, Shubha Satheesh, S Meghana, Simran Bahadur, Sophie Molineux*.

Player to watch:Smriti Mandhana

The RCB skipper failed to set the tone with the bat for the team last season, scoring only 149 runs at a strike rate of 111.19. Her below-par showing with the bat played its part in the team's overall performance. Except in the clash against Gujarat Giants, where she played second-fiddle to Sophie Devine's ruthless assault in the massive run-chase, there weren't too many noteworthy contributions by her, and she hasn't been able to regain her best form as yet. She hasn't been able to assert her dominance with the bat for a while, and even in the last international T20I series, she was far from her fluent best.

Much like last season, amidst a host of star players, RCB finds itself with some weak links in the middle. The onus continues to remain on the top three - Mandhana, Devine and Ellyse Perry - to not only provide strong starts but also play a pivotal role through the innings. On the batting-friendly track of the Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bengaluru, with short boundaries, the conditions will be in favour of the southpaw. If Mandhana clicks, along with the rest, RCB could pose a serious challenge. If she doesn't, the team could be under siege again.

Injuries and availability: Heather Knight has withdrawn from this season's WPL to prepare, play and lead England in their multi-format series against New Zealand. One of their last season's promising finds, Kanika Ahuja, has also been ruled out of the tournament and replaced by Maharashtra pacer Shraddha Pokharkar.