WPL 2023: Smriti Mandhana is a great captain but she's putting too much pressure on herself: Ellyse Perry

Be it in the Indian Premier League or in the Women’s Premier League, the Royal Challengers Bangalore have found it hard to get going from the word go. Smriti Mandhana, bought for a whopping INR 3.4 crores at the WPL auction, has failed to guideher side to a win so far in the maiden edition of this tournament. Following RCB's fourth straight loss the other night in Mumbai, Smriti has found herself in hot waters but has backing from her teammate Ellyse Perry.

Perry, another star all-rounder in the team full of big names, has come out in support of Smriti saying the way she has led so far, it appears she is great at it,but she puts too much pressure on herself for doing well for the team – which certainly isn’t going her way.

Speaking after yet another humiliating loss in WPL – this time going down against UP Warriorz by ten wickets, Perry addressed the media and said it’s not easy for someone to manage a team full of new faces.

“Knowing Smriti and how proud and responsible she is for her own game, there’s probably no more pressure on her than what she is putting on herself. It’s a ginormous task to come into a brand-new competition and play with a group of players that she has never played with before and try and make that all gel in a matter of a couple of days since she joined the group,” Perry said.

From playing against her to playing under her, Perry knows a thing or two about Smriti and feels Smriti still has a long way to go in the tournament. She added sayingit’s about time before Mandhanafinds her Mojo and let herself loose. The recently-crowned T20 World Cup winner with Australia, Perry adds that looking at the bigger picture, she knows Smriti is going to make it big in WPL.

“I think she’s a great captain too. She just needs a chance to find her feet in the tournament and she will no doubt. But the bigger picture (is), it's just going to mean we are going to see an even better version of Smriti after this. There’s so much that she has learned from this competition already, both as a captain and as a batter, to make her even better in the future. She’s only a youngster right,” the Aussie all-rounder added.

With four losses in four games now RCB’s chances of reaching the playoffs look bleak. However, for RCB to revive its confidence, they must beat Delhi Capitals on Monday, March 13th.