RCB becomes first IPL team to appoint woman in support staff

The Indian Premier League (IPL) franchise Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) has become the first team in the competition to hire a woman in its support staff. Navnita Gautam has been appointed as the Virat Kohli-led team’s massage therapist. The RCB Twitter handle recently tweeted that the Gautam will join them from the 13th edition of the tournament in 2020. Her role will be to identify and implement massage therapy to help the team prepare and recover better amidst a gruelling schedule.

Women power in men's cricket

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Gautam is all set to join the head physiotherapist Evan Speechly and also strength and conditioning coach Shankar Basu in the support staff. She would also play a role of performing specialised techniques about the motivation, preparation and the overall supervision for the RCB team. She would look after the individual physical ailments relating to the side.

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Talking to the press, RCB chairman Sanjeev Churiwala stated that he is pleased to be a part of this moment in history and he claimed it as another step in the right direction. He said that the game had come a long way and there’s been a significant boom in viewership in terms of watching the Indian women’s cricket team's matches. He added that sports is a great enabler and it is essential to make sure that the principles of equity are also extended towards its staffing bodies. He stated his excitement of having found great talent in the form of Gautam and said that this is all possible because of the increasing participation and success by women in all sporting arenas.

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In August 2019, RCB appointed Mike Hesson as their Director of Cricket Operations and Simon Katich as the new head coach. RCB haven’t won a single title in the 12 editions of Indian Premier League despite having some of the biggest names in cricket.

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