As spinners and personalities go, Sophie Molineux, Georgia Wareham, Asha Sobhana, and Shreyanka Patil are as different as they come.
Australians Molineux and Wareham are regulars on the international franchise scene and have frequently worn their national colours. While Patil has played six Twenty20 international matches, Sobhana, 33, has never represented India in any capacity.
On Monday, the Indians were beaming with joy and enjoying their first taste of fame, whereas the Australians seemed to have seen it all before. It seems impossible that a group of cricket players this diverse and adaptable could come together to win a trophy in three hectic weeks, but that is exactly what the RCB spin quartet has accomplished.
On a memorable Sunday here, the team captained by Smriti Mandhana defeated the Delhi Capitals (DC), the finalists of the previous edition, but the formula and foundation for the title-winning run were set long ago. After removing Capitals for 113 runs, RCB won by eight wickets.
After finishing fourth out of five teams in the inaugural Women’s Premier League (WPL) season, Royal Challenge Bangalore (RCB) realised they needed to add quality spinners to their lineup. RCB went shopping after Sobhana and Patil performed poorly in 2023, taking just five and six wickets, respectively.
The franchise bid ₹30 lakh for Molineux, a left-arm spinner, and ₹40 lakh for Wareham, a leg spinner. These acquisitions would be crucial to their title challenge.
“We made the deliberate choice to strengthen our spin department. Luke Williams, head coach of the RCB, stated, “We felt the need to control the middle overs.” “Very few teams can claim to have four excellent spinners, and upon closer inspection, each of the four has an own unique style.”
Molineux is a left-arm finger spinner, Patil is an offie, and Sobhana and Wareham bowl wrist spins. However, all four are capable of flying the ball. In this day and age, finger spinners depend on shooting the ball into the net, while wrist spinners are getting harder to find.
“While powerplay bowling was a concern, our spinners were a revelation in the middle overs,” Mandhana boasted. “Shreyanka is extremely accurate, Sophie can do a little bit of both, Sobhana loves to flight the ball, and Wareham is a little quicker. For us, their individual talents blended flawlessly.”
After ten games, RCB’s tweakers claimed 44 wickets, 34 of which came in a winning effort. In terms of overall wickets taken, Patil (13), Sobhana (12), and Molineux (12) occupied the top three positions, with Wareham (7 wickets) providing support.
After DC had rushed to 61/0 in the powerplay, Molineux actually flipped the outcome of the match by sending back the hot Shafali Verma, Jemimah Rodrigues, and Alice Capsey in the space of four deliveries. Molineux got the ball to dip beautifully, misleading all those batters in the air.
“After the two games that we lost in Delhi, I realised I was bowling a little quicker,” Molineux said. “Shreyanka and I in particular started analysing our speeds; as finger spinners, we can make deliveries more quickly. We made the bold decision to chase wickets throughout the entire game.”
Patil, who looks up to Nathan Lyon and R Ashwin, knew she had to control her variations and give the slow Kotla track time to do its thing. Knowing when to use your variations is crucial. We thought that in Delhi, just slowing down would suffice. In order to get as much assistance from the wicket as possible, I gave my deliveries some good revolutions. In contrast to what we typically do in domestic cricket, we decided to attack the stumps,” the 21-year-old stated.
Sobhana, who took five wickets in her opening innings, credited Mandhana for her achievement. “I always got the attacking fields from Smriti because I am an aggressive spinner by nature. Additionally, since August, RCB has been hosting a number of camps, which allowed me time to organise and plan.”
Railways teammate Ekta Bisht proved to be an ally for the Stuart MacGill enthusiast. Every training session, the two would discuss potential bowling strategies, carefully planning for the big opposition hitters. It was all worthwhile in the end.
