Familiar faces, flexible plans – RCB's WPL Auction strategy

"You don't win the WPL in the auction. But, you certainly stand a chance of losing the WPL in the auction." The words of Malolan Rangarajan, Royal Challengers Bengaluru's acting head coach in Women's Premier League 2026, are a stark reminder that titles are built through logical squad construction and not necessarily headline-grabbing bidding wars.

At the WPL Player Auction 2026 in New Delhi on Thursday, RCB's strategy closely mirrored the blueprint the franchise followed in men's IPL 2025. Malolan calls it a "coincidence". But it's no coincidence that RCB's focus on role-specific players and balanced squad composition has become a cornerstone of their approach, and their success, as reflected in their maiden titles in back-to-back years.

From their four retentions – skipper Smriti Mandhana, wicketkeeper-bat Richa Ghosh, star allrounder Ellyse Perry and the local star Shreyanka Patil – it was apparent that the bowling department needed a reset. RCB went all out signing reinforcements in both domestic and overseas sub-categories. At one point, with only INR 2.80 crore left in the purse, the franchise was involved in an aggressive bidding war for Shikha Pandey before backing off at the INR 2.4 crore mark. Instead, they bought India pace-bowling allrounders Pooja Vastrakar and Arundhati Reddy, alongside England's quick Lauren Bell for a combined INR 2.5 crore to give themselves more flexibility and combination-options ahead of Season 4.

Likewise, the signing of a on-the-rise finisher like Nadine de Klerk (INR 65 lakh) or a batting prodigy like Georgia Voll (INR 60 lakh) may also appear like a bargain once they pulled out of the bidding for their former opener Sophie Devine at INR 1 crore. But to RCB, those options bring versatility within the limited squad size.

"It's a well-drawn and thought-out process as far as the auction is concerned," Malolan said in a select media interaction after auction. "Once we have the 'what's the brand of cricket we want to play', 'what it takes to win', 'what's the purse', then we start prioritising."

"In the specific example of Shikha, obviously because we could is why we went till that number. It would have meant a little bit of compromises in other areas but we would have more or less got the team. With not being able to acquire Shikha, it meant we were able to get maybe three players for the same price.

"Devine is a gun cricketer; part of our winning team. But, in our mind we have replaced Devine with Nadine. That is how it looks at least to me and our think-tank.

"For Nadine, we looked at the allrounders there – Devine we did as best as we could with what we thought we would be able to get a good team at. We spent a lot of our money on the all-rounders.

"We're very happy with Nadine. She's turning in the right direction. She's maybe placed in a different position in the batting order as opposed to Devine. But I think the good thing about the squad we have at the moment is we have flexibility of who we play where which we should be very very aware of.

"Again, it comes down to how we want to play and what set of players we are looking for what sort of compromises we make. But there wasn't any compromise because we are getting similar skills and Nadine is obviously explosive at the backend, can give us some bowling in middle and death, and also a very, very good fielder," Malolan said.

Incidentally, de Klerk was a part of RCB's winning side in 2024 but remained uncapped. "It also helps – knowing a player who has been with us before. We know how she was in the environment."

The familiarity between the players and the think-tank has its obvious advantages in forging a cohesive team in short turnarounds. Skipper Mandhana had highlighted this as a key factor in the franchise's decision to sign head coach Luke Williams ahead of the championship-winning 2024 season, following her recommendation. Williams served as assistant coach at Southern Brave in their title-winning 2023 campaign featuring Mandhana. Anya Shrubsole, now the newest member of RCB's backroom staff, captained Brave at the time. Continuing the association, England's Bell is now poised to make her mark under the same set-up.

Allrounders Radha and Arundhati, too, come from the World Cup-winning squad where they didn't get a whole lot of on-field opportunities but were unanimously lauded by the rest of the team for their behind-the-scenes contributions. Malolan credited the captain and the new assistant coach of the team for their role in putting together this unit, and ensuring the new recruits aligned with the team's vision.

"Anya, obviously, with her wealth of experience helped us with options. She's very recently retired. So, she's still in touch with the pulse of the game, knows the players playing around the world, understands how we want to play. Contributed massively trying to understand that and also make it better.

"Smriti has been inputting as much as she can in her busy period now.

"Before we get onto the field of play, there are certain things we can control. One of the things is to try and get the best fielding unit… And people like Radha, Arundhati are gun fielders. We also tried to have a lot of capped players, and that also makes a huge difference. It's also one of the conscious things we did.

"So, their input has been massive. I could go on about how much Anya has helped the whole process. Smriti is Smriti. She knows exactly.. she's has got a vision also and it aligns and we've all come together on how we want RCB to play on the field of play.

"It really does help the captain has played with some of the players or the coach knows… It's similar to how we want to bring back Asha, bring back Nadine, bring back Georgia Wareham – you know, the players who have been at RCB before so that it is not new for them. And it does help if a captain or a coach has worked with a player because it's easy to get the job done. I wouldn't deny the fact that it helps. A Smriti knows what sort of culture is here, so if Smriti some sort of input about a player, we'll consider because I'm sure Smriti is already thinking about will this player fit our team."

It was, perhaps, for the same reason that RCB chased Devine or even Asha Sobhana, and why they were willing to wait a bit longer for allrounder Shreyanka Patil to make her much-awaited comeback after an injury-plagued 2024 season only a couple of months leading up to the retention deadline.

It's not just all about familiar faces though; but also about a squad with balance and depth that can serve them well across the shortened two-year cycle before pressing reset at yet another mega auction. That careful approach explains the franchise's willingness to invest in those returning from long injury layoffs, knowing that their experience and skillset will pay off in long-term. The classic example is the signing of Vastrakar, who is yet to earn full fitness clearance from the BCCI' CoE, but is understood to be tracking well.

"First things first, she's a three-dimensional player. Batting, gives us pace, and a very good fielder also. There's is no doubting that. The facts are that she is currently at the COE rehabbing. Whatever BCCI has communicated to us that it looks like she will be fit by the next month. She hasn't played cricket for a while, we're very aware. But, she is on the mend now. She brings tremendous balance to our team, if fit. It's not like we got her at base price; Someone else also who saw value in her.

"There's 50 days or more left for the WPL to start. So now that she is at COE, she is in good hands. Hopefully she comes out well with the rehab. She hasn't played for a while. I agree. But again, an experienced player so that'll help her ease into it.

"When you are picking a squad especially with this WPL cycle – it's not even two years. From January 2026 to January 2027, it is 12 to 13 months. So you take a close eye on where you are going to be playing in a couple of months time and you stretch your vision out even to maybe a year after that. So it is a mix of what we need for D Y Patel and Vadodara, and what the team should look like Irrespective of the ground also for the next season in a year."