‘Smriti has led the group brilliantly’ – Ellyse Perry lauds Mandhana’s leadership following WPL playoffs qualification

The Smriti Mandhana-led Royal Challengers Bangalore have had a roller coaster of a season so far.

The side lost the penultimate game of the group stages to Delhi Capitals, and the loss had Richa Ghosh in tears. However, with brilliance and instant improvement in their very next game against Mumbai Indians women, defeating Mumbai Indians, Royal Challengers Bangalore managed to qualify for the knockout stages of the tournament.

Star all-rounder Ellyse Perry came forward to heap praise on skipper Smriti Mandhana. Perry also talked about how the team has evolved over the past two seasons.

“Smriti has led the group brilliantly. Her personality is quite introverted. So she is so big on developing relationships with each player and making sure she knows that we are supporting her. There’s so much upside to that and the fact that we can step on the field knowing and supporting each other. Hopefully, that keeps building for us,” Perry said in a media interaction arranged by Royal Challengers Bangalore.

We got so close the last match against Delhi: Perry

Furthermore, Perry also talked of how Bangalore came within touching distance of a win against Delhi Capitals in the penultimate game of the group stage. Speaking of the loss, Perry opined that it was very disheartening, but the team stuck together and came back after disappointment.

“We got so close the last match against Delhi and so it was tough loss, but it was also important to keep things in perspective. The sun always comes up the next day and no matter how hard it feels at the time, it is just a game of sport. We had a really good training session the next day and we just stuck together. The overwhelming thing was really that we had another opportunity to play,” Perry said.

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