India’s batter Smriti Mandhana is the most expensive buy in the ongoing WPL 2023. RCB roped her in the auction after paying a whopping amount of Rs 3.4 cr. Despite being the expensive buy, she has not been able to score runs so far in the tournament. However, legendary Ellyse Perry came in support of Mandhana.
“Knowing Smriti and how proud and responsible she is for her own game, there’s probably no more pressure on her than what she is putting on herself,” Perry said.
The six-time T20 World Cup winner, Perry was hopeful that the Indian batter will soon overcome this phase.
“It’s a ginormous task to come into a brand new competition and play with a group of players that she has never played with before and try and make that all gel in a matter of a couple of days since she joined the group,” the 32-year-old added.
“I think she’s a great captain too. She just needs a chance to find her feet in the tournament and she will no doubt. But the bigger picture (is), it’s just going to mean we are going to see an even better version of Smriti after this.
“There’s so much that she has learned from this competition already, both as a captain and as a batter, to make her even better in the future. She’s only a youngster right.”
Mandhana has scored 35, 23, 18, and 4 and suffered four straight losses as a skipper in the league so far. She also took the blame on herself for the poor performance of her team. “In the last four games, it’s been happening. We start well and then lose a cluster of wickets. I take the blame as well,” Smriti said.
“Need to get runs on the board for the bowlers to defend. Overs 7-15 we spoke about getting 7-8 per over. We’re trying to get a balanced team. Let’s see how it goes.”
RCB’s next match is against Delhi Capitals at the DY Patil Stadium on Monday.