WPL 2023: Smriti Mandhana highlights the 'biggest takeaway' from RCB's woeful campaign

WPL 2023: Much was expected from Smriti Mandhana led Royal Challengers Bangalore in the inaugural Women's Premier League but they had a pretty disappointing campaign winning just two out of eight matches. There was a late glimmer of hope but UP Warriorz's victory against Gujarat Giants sealed their fate as they crashed out of any contention for the playoffs. They have finished the inaugural WPL in the fourth position with four points in their kitty.

Smriti Mandhana reflected on RCB's poor WPL season

Mandhana was the most expensive player as RCB paid a staggering 3.4 crores to acquire her service. The Indian international was also handed the responsibility to lead the team in the first edition of WPL but the move proved to be a disaster as RCB couldn't really roll their performance on the ground.

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The RCB skipper insisted he didn't see it coming as they got submerged to a lowly performance in the tournament.  "The kind of team we have, and the kind of balance that we have, I did not expect that the campaign will go this way. At this moment, you feel a lot of things, like what we could have done better.

"Definitely sad that we could not make it to the top three, but I think it's the first season and there are a lot of things to work on as a player and as a team, and as a captain. I'm sure we will go back and comeback harder and stronger."

The skipper further voiced her confidence to come back stronger in the next season. "We now know what can go wrong. Now that we know that, I think we will be much prepared next year. The whole setup stuck together even though we lost the first five matches, and I think that was the biggest takeaway.

A season of learnings and new beginnings. Smriti, Perry, Mike, Shreyanka, Asha, Ben and Schutt express their emotions after a tough but memorable inaugural edition of #WPL.#PlayBold #SheIsBold #ನಮ್ಮRCB #WPL2023 pic.twitter.com/NctIeMfzDg

— Royal Challengers Bangalore (@RCBTweets) March 22, 2023

Delhi Capitals have already cemented a place in the WPL final while UP Warriorz and Mumbai Indians will fight for a place in the final in the eliminator.