WPL | We let ourselves down in crucial moments, says RCB’s Wareham

RCB’s marketing campaign ended with a whimper.
| Photo Credit: PTI

In a Women’s Premier League (WPL) season that has spanned extra venues than the earlier two years, Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) would have maybe most well-liked not taking the journey from Lucknow to Mumbai for the final leg of the event. Its destiny is sealed, in any case, following Saturday evening’s defeat to UP Warriorz on the Ekana Cricket Stadium. There is a league encounter towards Mumbai Indians remaining, however the defending champion has nothing greater than a bit-part position to play in the enterprise finish at Brabourne Stadium.

While lacking out on a top-three spot in the five-team occasion isn’t catastrophic in a format the place margins between victory and defeat are minuscule, not profitable a single recreation since beating Delhi Capitals in Vadodara on February 17 is sure to harm the franchise. Its five-match shedding streak consists of 4 on dwelling turf in Bengaluru, though one boiled down to a Super Over.

“The first two games we played in Bengaluru, we had a real chance of winning those. We just let ourselves down in really crucial moments. Losing four on the trot at home was not ideal for us,” spinner Georgia Wareham informed reporters on Saturday.

Even earlier than a ball was bowled this season, RCB’s title defence had setbacks to surmount. Injuries meant Shreyanka Patil, Sophie Molineux and Asha Sobhana — the highest three wicket-takers in WPL 2024 with 37 scalps amongst them — performed no half in the event. Star all-rounder Sophie Devine took a break for private causes. The absence of those figures resulted in gaps too massive to plug. Wareham has picked up 11 wickets and Renuka Singh has chipped in with 10, however RCB’s dire show with the ball towards Warriorz was emblematic of the troubles.

“Yeah, there were massive setbacks,” Wareham conceded. “Not having Shreyanka in the team this year has been a little bit tricky. Missing Molineux and Devine definitely changed things as well. I guess I had a little bit of a different role this year. I probably leaked a few too many runs this year.”

While Wareham didn’t pin blame on the batting unit, Ellyse Perry and Richa Ghosh didn’t get pleasure from sufficient assist proper by means of the season. Skipper Smriti Mandhana, in specific, has underwhelmed with 144 runs in seven innings.