Royal Challengers Bangalore is one of the five IPL franchises that have bought a team for the inaugural edition of the Indian Women’s Cricket League. The franchise is one of the eight original teams participating in the Indian Premier League since the tournament’s first season in 2008. RCB has a history of signing top players in the Indian Premier League, including the likes of V. Kohli, C. Gayle. A.B. Villiers, M. Starc, R. Dravid, M. Starc, and others. Royal Challengers Bangalore is one of the most popular teams despite the fact that they have not had an IPL title to date.
Royal Challengers Bangalore is owned by United Spirits Limited, a Diageo Group Company. Prathmesh Mishra, the Chief Commercial Officer of Diageo India, assumed his role as Chairman of RCB in June 2021. The first owner of RCB was Vijay Mallaya who bought the franchise for $111.6 million, which was the second-highest bid for an IPL team. As of December 2022, the Bengaluru-based IPL franchise has a brand value of $ 64 million, which is a 34% increase in its market value from 2021. They are the fourth most valuable IPL teams after Mumbai Indians, Kolkata Knight Riders, and Chennai Super Kings.
Royal Challengers Bangalore plays its home matches at an iconic M. Chinnaswamy Stadium, which has a seating capacity of over 40,000 spectators. The stadium holds the record for hosting the most number of IPL matches (83 from 2008 to 2019). Talking about the team, RCB rose from a bottom-two finish in 2008 to ending as runner-up in 2009. Royal Challengers Bangalore had reached the IPL playoffs eight times. Despite reaching finals thrice (2009, 2011, and 2016), the Bengaluru-based team couldn’t get hold of the IPL trophy. However, they are one of the most popular teams in the history of IPL. V. Kohli, A.B. Villiers, and C. Gayle are the players who played a vital role in the success of Royal Challengers Bangalore. ,
Royal Challengers Bangalore will be aiming to grow further in franchise cricket after they acquired the women’s team for the Women’s Premier League 2023. The Bengaluru-based franchise is one of the five franchises alongside Delhi, Gujarat, Mumbai, and UP to have bought a Women’s IPL team. The owner of RCB, Diageo Group spent Rs. 902 crores to secure the rights of the Bengaluru women’s team. Ahead of the WPL Auction, Royal Challengers Bangalore formed a coaching staff for the women’s team. B. Sawyer has been appointed as the head coach of the RCB Women’s team, while R. Murali will be the batting coach. Vanitha has been appointed as the fielding coach. Former New Zealand head coach M. Hesson will continue his role as Director of Cricket Operations at RCB. Interestingly, RCB roped Indian tennis legend S. Mirza as a mentor of the women’s team.
Just like their history of having star players in their squad, Royal Challengers Bangalore left no stone unturned to sign top women players across the cricketing world for the inaugural season of the WPL. The Bengaluru-based franchise spent Rs. 11.9 crore and went heavy on targetted players. Their captain S. Mandhana became the most expensive buy at the WPL auction with a bid of Rs. 3.4 crore. The franchise also secured the services of E. Perry, R. Singh, S. Devine, H. Knight, M. Schutt, D van Niekerk, and 17 others for the inaugural edition of the WPL. Royal Challengers Bangalore will look to make their mark in the women’s franchise cricket league from the first season of the Women’s Premier League.
Royal Challengers Bangalore will begin its WPL 2023 campaign against Delhi Capitals on 5th March at Brabourne Stadium. RCB will play two matches against each of the five teams in the inaugural edition of the tournament.
