Defending champions Royal Challengers Bengaluru will have minimal business to do at next week’s TATA WPL 2027 Auction, with just five slots left to fill, as they target their second consecutive title and third overall.
Speaking on JioStar’s ‘Game Plan’, JioStar expert Reema Malhotra shared her thoughts on RCB’s key requirements at the auction, including the overseas players they should target and potential changes to their batting order.
Speaking on JioStar’s ‘Game Plan’, JioStar Expert Reema Malhotra shared her thoughts on what gaps RCB need to fill at the auction:
“RCB will be very busy at the mini auction for Indian players, especially for batters and all-rounders, and they have a decent auction purse too. They need an Indian batter because Smriti Mandhana as the opener and Richa Ghosh in the middle order are the only proper batters in the playing XI for now, and they need someone to fill the number four spot. I feel that they should make Richa bat at number four, which solves their middle order problem. Now if Richa bats at four, then the number five spot opens up and that can be filled by Radha Yadav. She played there last season and did well too, so that would be a great option to repeat for RCB. Nadine de Klerk will play the role of the finisher at six, but they need another batter at seven. They can try out Pooja Vastrakar there, but if she’s not going to bowl, then I don’t see the point in playing her just for her batting. So, RCB will need an Indian all-rounder and a backup wicketkeeper for Richa, a role that can be filled by Sushma Verma or Uma Chetry.”
On the overseas players RCB should target at the mini auction:
“RCB can definitely look to buy back Grace Harris, and that should be on top of their to-do list because she scored 237 runs with the bat and those runs were crucial in the team’s success. Yes, she was playing in place of Ellyse Perry, and now that Perry is back, Grace will be pushed down the batting order if RCB get her. But the kind of knocks she played last season will make RCB bid for her again. If they don’t get her, then they can target Sophie Molineux, a player who was crucial in helping them lift their first ever title back in 2024. Both these players will be in high demand at the auction, and RCB don’t have a big purse, so they will have a tough time getting either of them. They need luck to be on their side, and if they get lucky, then I would like to see RCB secure the services of Sophie Molineux over Grace Harris.”
On RCB feeling less pressure than fellow two-time TATA WPL champions MI:
“Teams feel the pressure in a mini auction because you have to do your homework there. And when your purse isn’t that huge, you go after a limited number of players, but the ones you feel will solve your problems, because a franchise knows who to bet on and who to save money for. Now MI were struggling a lot last season because they didn’t have a fixed opening batting pair, and that was the biggest reason for them not winning the title, along with the lack of a star wicketkeeper batter. I feel the pressure will be more on MI than RCB because they are MI. You expect them to win the trophy every season. They finished at number four, and they would want to bounce back strongly. RCB will feel less pressure because they won the title, and when a team lifts the trophy, they don’t mess around much with their core group of players. But for RCB, a few slots need to be filled, and one of them is that of the finisher. They need an Indian all-rounder to fill the number seven spot if they make Richa Ghosh bat at number four, alongside quality backups.”
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