After the success of the inaugural edition of the Women's Premier League (WPL) earlier this year, Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) skipper Smriti Mandhana wants the tournament to be played in a multi-city format to reach a new audience.
Mandhana feels moving the tournament to different cities will be the next big step in women's cricket as she wants to hear 'RCB, RCB' chants while playing at M Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bengaluru.
"It would be great to have WPL in the multi-city format. I think that might be the next step and I am sure the people right here would look into it and make it happen. As an RCB fan, I would love to play in Chinnaswamy where people are chanting ‘RCB RCB’ and just to be in that environment. That is something which is one step ahead for us that it (multi-city format) can reach to places where women's cricket hasn't reached and to get new audience going into women's cricket,” Mandhana said at the RCB Innovation Lab’s Leaders Meet India.
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Ahead of the WPL auction and the second season of the tournament, Mandhana shared her thoughts on the tea combination and their target players.
“A lot of thoughts have gone into what kind of combinations we need in terms of releases or retention. So we are really looking forward to the WPL auctions and hopefully, we get the players who we are looking forward to getting,” she said.
Speaking on the growth of women's sports in India, Mandhana highlighted the remarkable achievements of women athletes in recent years. She emphasised the cultural shift, saying, “Women in India are doing amazing stuff in the last five to 10 years not only in women's cricket but in women's sport in general. If you see the last Olympics or Commonwealth or Asian Games, the kind of medals women's athletes have gone and got for the country is a big inspiration for a lot of smaller city girls out there to pursue their passion. I think women's sports in general should be treated separately and by doing that they can definitely sell a lot of things in terms of the ticketing or the digital rights.”
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When asked about the areas women’s cricket needs in terms of further investment or further focus to keep propelling forward, Mandhana suggested focusing on the grassroots level.
“The only thing that we could invest in is the grassroots level of women's sport in general because a lot of interest is developed with the Indian Women's team or the WPL tournament. Invest more so that we get a lot more cricketers women cricketers,” she remarked.
Drawing inspiration from women athletes in international sports, Mandhana revealed her admiration for Alex Morgan in women's FIFA and acknowledged Serena Williams' monumental achievements in tennis as her sources of motivation.