Royal Challengers Bengaluru (WPL)

For the men's team, see Royal Challengers Bengaluru.

Royal Challengers Bengaluru

Nickname(s)	RCB
League	Women's Premier League
Personnel
Captain	Smriti Mandhana (2023–present)
Coach	Luke Williams (2024–present)
Owner	United Spirits
Team information
City	Bengaluru, Karnataka, India
Colours
Founded	2023;2 years ago (2023)
Home ground	M. Chinnaswamy Stadium
Capacity	33,800
History
WPL  wins	1 (2024)
Official website	Website
Regular kit

Royal Challengers Bengaluru, formerly known as Royal Challengers Bangalore, commonly known as RCB, is an Indian professional franchise cricket team based in Bengaluru, Karnataka that competes in the Women's Premier League. It is owned by United Spirits, which also owns the men's team. The team is coached by Luke Williams and captained by Smriti Mandhana. RCB won the 2024 season, bringing the first trophy for the franchise. ^[1] It is also the most popular and followed cricket franchise on Instagram with more than 21 million followers. ^[2]

History

In October 2022, the BCCI announced its intentions to hold a five-team women's franchise cricket tournament in March 2023. ^[3] The tournament was named the Women's Premier League in January 2023, with investors buying the rights to franchises through a closed bidding process during the same month. ^[4] Diageo, the owners of Royal Challengers Bangalore in the Indian Premier League, bought the rights to one of the franchises. ^[4]

In February 2023, Ben Sawyer was announced as head coach of the side. ^[5] The inaugural player auction for the WPL was held on 13 February 2023, Royal Challengers Bangalore signing 18 players for their squad. ^[6] On 18 February 2023, Smriti Mandhana was announced as the team's captain. The side finished fourth in the group stage at the inaugural tournament. ^[7]

In September 2023, Luke Williams was announced as the head coach for the 2024 season. ^[8] The side won three of their five Bangalore-leg matches, and then they went on to win one match out of their next three matches. Ending the league stage with four wins, the side qualified for the playoffs.

In the eliminator, the team defeated the defending champions — Mumbai Indians, to advance into the final. In the final, they defeated Delhi Capitals to win the title, this was the franchise's maiden title across both men's and women's leagues. Royal Challengers Bangalore's Ellyse Perry and Shreyanka Patil won the orange cap and purple cap respectively.

Kit evolution

The official colours of Royal Challengers Bengaluru are red, black and gold.

2023–present

Performance record

Year	League Standings	Final Standings	Most Runs	Most Wickets
2023	4/5	League Stage	Sophie Devine	Shreyanka Patil
2024	3/5	Champions	Ellyse Perry	Shreyanka Patil
2025	4/5	League Stage	Ellyse Perry	Georgia Wareham
2026
Total	Champions x 1		Ellyse Perry	Shreyanka Patil Georgia Wareham

Source

Captaincy record

Player	Duration	Matches	Won	Lost	Best Result
Smriti Mandhana	2023–present	24	9	15	Champions (2024)

Personnel record

Position	Name	Ref
Director of cricket	Mo Bobat	[9]
Head of team operations	Soumyadeep Pyne
Doctor	Dr Harini Muralidharan
Head coach	Luke Williams	[10]
Assistant coach	Malolan Rangarajan
Batting coach	RX Murali
Fielding coach	Vellaswamy Vanitha

Source: RCB

Sponsors

Kajaria Tiles was the official Title Sponsor for RCB WPL 2023. ^[11] Mia by Tanishq & Dream11 being principal partners. Apart from these, Puma, Himalaya, & Vega being the associate partners. Zuno General Insurance were their official partners for WPL 2023. ^{[12] [13]}

Year	Kit Manufacturer	Front Sponsor	Back Sponsor
2023	Puma	Kajaria	Mia
2024
2025			Alliance University

Awards and nominations

Women's Premier League

Year	Award	Recipient	Ref
2023	Most Sixes	Sophie Devine
2024	Orange Cap	Ellyse Perry	[14]
	Purple Cap	Shreyanka Patil
	Best Strike Rate	Georgia Wareham
	Emerging Player of the Season	Shreyanka Patil
	Fair Play Award	Royal Challengers Bengaluru

Others

Year	Award	Category	Result	Ref
2024	Indian Sports Honours	Club of the Year	Nominated

See also

• Sports in Karnataka

References

1. "On This Day: Royal Challengers Bengaluru win WPL, their first-ever title, defeat Delhi Capitals in 2024 final". The Indian Express. 17 March 2025. Retrieved 2 April 2025.
2. Rathod, Karan Singh (31 March 2025). "Royal Challengers Bengaluru Overtake Chennai Super Kings, Become Most-Followed Team On Instagram". Times Now. Retrieved 2 April 2025.
3. "Inaugural Women's IPL likely to be played from March 3 to 26". ESPNcricinfo. 9 December 2022. Retrieved 16 February 2023.
4. "Owners of Mumbai Indians, Delhi Capitals, RCB win bids to own Women's Premier League teams". ESPNcricinfo. 25 January 2023. Retrieved 16 February 2023.
5. "RCB name Australian Ben Sawyer as head coach for WPL". The Indian Express. 15 February 2023. Retrieved 16 February 2023.
6. "Bid-by-bid updates - 2023 WPL auction". ESPNcricinfo. 13 February 2023. Retrieved 16 February 2023.
7. "Women's Premier League 2022/23 - Table". ESPNcricinfo. Retrieved 27 March 2023.
8. "RCB appoints Big Bash winner Luke Williams as head coach for WPL". Royal Challengers Bangalore. 30 September 2023. Retrieved 17 March 2024.
9. "Mo Bobat to join RCB as director of cricket after 12 years in England set-up". ESPNcricinfo. Retrieved 2 December 2023.
10. "RCB appoint Big Bash winner Luke Williams as WPL Head Coach". Hindustan Times. 30 September 2023. Retrieved 2 December 2023.
11. "IPL and WPL teams hurry to secure last-minute deals, RCB and MI active". Sportcal. 3 March 2023.
12. "Zuno and RCB a truly fitting match". Zuno General Insurance.
13. "Official Insurance Partner". RCB-Twitter.
14. "WPL 2024 Full List of Awards: RCB's Ellyse Perry grabs Orange Cap, Shreyanka Patil takes Purple; Deepti Sharma MVP". Hindustan Times.