The Royal Challengers Bengaluru recreated history in Vadodara when they claimed the second WPL title at the end of a thrilling finale. It wasn’t just the final, however, it was an excellent season that set the right precedent for the upcoming seasons.

However, RCB's ride was not smooth. Even before the season started, Luke Williams, their former head coach, decided to step down. Malolan Rangarajan was handed the reins of the RCB team.

In his very first season as the head coach, he saw RCB overcome all possible obstacles, one of which was the absence of their star batter, Ellyse Perry. Talking on Big Basket presents RCB Podcast, RCB-W’s head coach, Malolan Rangarajan, who is also the player identification manager and spin bowling coach for RCB men’s, opened up on the WPL win.

Highlighting the challenges, ahead of the season, Malo said, “I think prior to the auction, and I did mention that, you know, it's a very exciting challenge that we have ahead. What's been really good is how we as a group have met the challenges and tried to find solutions. We had retained a very good core to even go one step further when we had Luke as our head coach, and he had to pull out for personal reasons. And that was challenge one. And then I was offered the job and was more than happy to do it with the mega auction coming up. And then we were very happy with our retentions, you know, four solid players. And a couple of days prior to the auction, then we get hit with Perry's pullout.”

Explaining how the side overcame the obstacles, Malo added, “Again, credit to the group, the whole group that was there and the think tank, Smriti also, who was away for some personal work, and she also was in it, trying to find a solution there. A lot of prep work between that and the auction. And then we pick a squad, one of the players who we knew. I wouldn't say it was a challenge, but you know, someone like Pooja (Vastrakar), we had to point knowing that she hasn't played for a year now, and she's been at the COE, trying to find solutions within that. We got blessed in the auction by picking a player who we may not have expected to pick. That changed our combination slightly.”

Reflecting on how he plotted to work out the new combination, Malo stated, “How do we make that work? Yeah. So, and then when you come to the tournament, we had that period where we played three games in four days, which included a travel day. So, you know, the whole staff that worked around it. So the theme that I've seen throughout, and credit to the whole crew, that we were hit with challenges throughout, and the constant urge and the motivation to find solutions. That's what has stood out.”

He then shifted his focus to the season, stating, “When we started playing in Baroda, we won the first game, and the next two games we were hit with a jolt, with not understanding what the conditions were. But the thing with that is, you know, we had set a precedent and we had set a standard in the tournament, we'd done so well, and it was almost like it became so unpredictable what the conditions were.”

Malo concluded by saying, “So kudos to the girls who put in a lot of work, stepping, trying to find out how to bat or bowl in those conditions. On the whole, personally I think it's been a season where we've been hit with quite a few obstacles and challenges, and my biggest takeaway is, how do you make a position of weakness into a position of strength? That's what has been always running in my mind, that every team, it's not going to be a smooth ride. That's what kept me motivated every time we faced a challenge, and with the group we have together, they've helped us get to where we are today.”