RCB aiming to have two player camps ahead of WPL 2025 auction: Assistant head coach Malolan

RCB on Thursday announced the retention of 14 players, including six overseas, ahead of the WPL 2025 auction, with captain Smriti Mandhana, star batter Ellyse Perry, and wicket-keeper Richa Ghosh headlining the list of retainees of the championship-winning team from this year.

Speaking in a statement by RCB, Malolan said about plans ahead of the WPL 2025 auction, likely to be held in December, "What will happen between now and the auction is that we will have a couple of camps for our players and I would like to mention for the players of interest, which will help us inform creating our shortlist of players for the auction and hopefully even make it a little bit more certain as to who we need to target and who we could have as backups. So, with the auction in December, the plan would be to have a camp prior to the auction and hopefully get the team we are looking for."

Talking about the idea behind WPL retention lists, Malolan said as a part of the coaching staff, it is important to remember what worked for the team last time on the field and away from it. Also, he emphasised on retaining the team's core values, both on-field and off-field.

"So keeping those things in mind, we came up with the set of retentions. We have also thought really hard about how we wanted to recruit in the last auction and we brought in a couple of players with experience. So that has held together and given us a good core to go forward with," he added.

RCB emerged as the champions of the WPL 2024, beating DC by eight wickets in the final.

Retained Players: Asha Shobana, Dani Wyatt, Ekta Bisht, Ellyse Perry, Georgia Wareham, Kanika Ahuja, Kate Cross, Renuka Singh, Richa Ghosh, S. Meghana, Shreyanka Patil, Smriti Mandhana, Sophie Devine, and Sophie Molineux.

Released Players: Disha Kasat, Indrani Roy, Shraddha Pokarkar, Shubha Satheesh, and Simran Bahadur. (ANI)