“We just let ourselves down in crucial moments,” Georgia Wareham reflects on RCB’s WPL 2025 campaign

In a record-breaking clash, UP Warriorz secured a thrilling 12-run victory over Royal Challengers Bengaluru in the 18th match of the Women’s Premier League (WPL) 2025. In doing so, UP Warriorz played the role of party spoilers, knocking Royal Challengers Bengaluru out of the tournament. With this result, three teams – Delhi Capitals, Gujarat Giants, UP Warriorz – have now secured their spots in the playoffs.

The story was full of agony for the Smriti Mandhana-led side as their campaign took an unexpected turn after two consecutive wins to kick off the tournament. They lost all their games at the M. Chinnaswamy Stadium and were unable to change their fortunes in Lucknow as well. The team struggled to find consistency in crucial moments, often falling short despite individual brilliance.

Missed opportunities and lapses in execution proved costly as their playoff hopes gradually slipped away. With a talented squad at their disposal, the team will now look to regroup, address their shortcomings, and come back stronger in the next edition.

“You watch the way that we bowled at the end there—I don’t know how different it would have been if we had bowled a little bit better. But I mean, it’s such a tough ground to defend on. I think we probably left a few too many runs to chase, but I think we did an incredible job to get that close. With the size of the boundaries and the way their batters played, I think we did a pretty good job at the end,” Georgia Wareham said in the post-game presser.

Acknowledging the entire campaign, Wareham expressed uncertainty about whether batting was the main issue throughout the tournament. She felt that the team primarily lacked consistency with the ball. Perry was outstanding all season, and Richa performed exceptionally well. While everyone contributed in some way, the inconsistency in bowling ultimately left them with too much to do, losing their prime spinners in Shreyanka Patil and Asha Sobhana to injury. The over dependency was evident when the strike bowlers were unable to scalp wickets in the power play over, thus allowing the opposition to drift through the remainder of play.

The story of RCB’s batting this year was something the Bold Army wouldn’t have imagined after lifting the championship in the second season of the league. Ellyse Perry was the lone warrior for the team and currently holds the orange Cap with 323 runs from 7 innings with 4 half-centuries and a strike rate of above 150.

Barring her, only big-hitter Richa Ghosh could occasionally provide fireworks down the order with 194 runs in the tournament. Captain Smriti Mandhana, barring one innings, failed miserably and didn’t deliver to the expectation of the Challengers’ fans. She couldn’t provide a solid start with her opening partner Daniell Wyatt-Hodge. It turned out to be a miserable show from RCB this season where good batting tracks were offered but the dividends from RCB’s batting lineup except Perry were underwhelming.

The Warriorz mounted the highest total ever in the history of the tournament, which eventually became a mountain to chase for the visiting team.

“We all knew that we could chase that down. Sometimes, those totals can be really daunting, but watching how the first innings played out, the ball was just racing around. It didn’t really take too much of a risk to get boundaries. The way Georgia Voll batted in the first innings sort of set up a platform for them. We probably needed someone to go through the whole innings to give us a real chance, but Richa Ghosh was outstanding. Sneh Rana was outstanding with five balls at the end and gave us a real chance. But there were just so many moments that we could pick out.”

Wareham said she was just telling Richa Ghosh to keep going and back her skills. She felt there wasn’t much she could say that Richa didn’t already know when she was out there. They were both just trying to express themselves and have fun, which had been their approach throughout the year—to always play with a smile on their face and maintain a positive attitude. She added that their discussion in the huddle at the halfway mark was about giving it a crack and seeing where they could go.

The Challengers were dealt with serious blows in the form of injuries before the commencement of the tournament. Sophie Molineux and Kate Cross being ruled out of the tournament was a big setback. Purple Cap holder of 2024 Shreyanka Patil and Asha Sobhana also missed out to play for the team in Red-And-Gold, having been replaced by Sneh Rana and Nuzhat Parween.

On RCB’s injury setbacks, Wareham said, “There have been some massive setbacks. Not having Shreyanka Patil in the team this year has been a little tricky, and missing Sophie Molineux and Sophie Divine has definitely changed things as well. But the players who have come in—Danni Hodge was extraordinary throughout the year, and Kim Garth has done some really good work at the top of the order. Having a little bit of a different role this year has been an adjustment for me. Not having the other two spinners from last year to bowl at the other end has made things a little different. I think we probably just leaked a few too many runs this year.”

The tournament is being played across four venues in the country, namely, Vadodara, Bengaluru, Lucknow and Mumbai. However, the 12th man army of the Challengers echoed their voices in every game. The disappointing performance of the team did not curl the supporters to get behind the team in every encounter.

“It’s pretty cool to know that anywhere we go in India, we’re going to get incredible support. The RCB fans are so loyal, and they’re all over the place, which is really special. Getting to go anywhere here and have a home advantage is pretty special. Sometimes, it can be really distracting when they’re so loud, but if you flip it the other way, it’s a lot harder for the opposition team when the crowd isn’t cheering for them.”

“The first two games we played in Bangalore—I think we had a real chance at winning those. We just let ourselves down in crucial moments, and that set us back to being two and two. Then, losing four on the trot was not ideal for us. The most disappointing part is that we had real chances to win those games, and it could have really changed the outlook for the season.”

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