Smriti Mandhana, the captain of Royal Challengers Bangalore's (RCB) women's team, has voiced hope that the Women's Premier League (WPL) will encourage lots of women to get involved in sports. She argued that everyone on the team will want to have a significant effect on the competition and inspire the next generation to think about playing cricket seriously.

On Saturday, March 4, the WPL 2023 began with the first game between Gujarat Giants and Mumbai Indians at the Dr. DY Patil Sports Institute in Mumbai. Gujarat has chosen to bat first after winning the toss. Bangalore will play Delhi Capitals on Monday at 3:30 PM in a day encounter at the Brabourne Stadium in Mumbai to open their WPL 2023 season.

Mandhana stated when asked about the chance to take over the RCB franchise: "First of all, I should thank the RCB management for granting me the opportunity to be a member of and head a legacy team like the RCB. It is both an exciting chance and a challenge. The WPL is a significant event in the annals of women's cricket, and I hope that by participating and being present, we will all encourage a large number of women to take up the sport.

"RCB has invested 901 crore in their "Sports For All" cricket plan, which is a commendable act. The idea seeks to guarantee greater female participation at all levels of cricket while also promoting equality for women and India's development. Mandhana praised RCB's action and added: "For us, it's very energising to see a franchise like RCB commit to the greater cause of women's equal participation and invest a reasonable sum of money to form a squad and advance India's development.

"Mandhana is among the top run scorers in women's T20 international cricket. She has amassed 2802 runs in 116 games at an average of 27.74, a hit rate of 123.87, and 22 half-centuries. At the WPL 2023 auction, the 26-year-old southpaw was the first athlete to be auctioned off. She was also the auction's most expensive buy, going for 3.4 crore to RCB.

RCB Women's squad: Smriti Mandhana (captain), Sophie Devine, Ellyse Perry, Renuka Singh, Richa Ghosh, Erin Burns, Disha Kasat, Indrani Roy, Shreyanka Patil, Kanika Ahuja, Asha Shobana, Heather Knight, Dane van Niekerk, Preeti Bose, Poonam Khemnar, Komal Zanzad, Megan Schutt, Sahana Pawar.