BENGALURU: There is a quiet certainty about Royal Challengers Bengaluru this season — one forged not in noise, but in belief. As the stakes rise in the Women’s Premier League, Lauren Bell and Gautami Naik spoke of a campaign built on trust, timely contributions and a dressing room that has learned to breathe easy under pressure.Go Beyond The Boundary with our YouTube channel. SUBSCRIBE NOW!For RCB, the journey has been less about stars and more about the collective glow — every role embraced, every moment owned. The result: they were the first team to seal a place in the final, winning six of their eight league matches.
One of the linchpins has been Lauren. The England pacer, playing her first season with RCB, has taken 12 wickets in eight games at a remarkable economy rate of 5.63. With 116 dot balls, she finished the league stage as the most economical bowler of the tournament.Speaking to select media on Monday, Lauren said, “We’ve got a great balance of characters and players in the team. What makes RCB special is how different people have put their hands up to win us games.”“We had five different player-of-the-match winners in five games. I think that shows the depth we have. Also, we are all very clear about our roles,” added the pacer, who has often bowled three overs in the Powerplay before returning later to provide breakthroughs — a system she and skipper Smriti Mandhana are well in sync with.
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Meanwhile, Gautami, the first uncapped player to score a half-century in the WPL, said keeping things simple has been key to RCB’s success.“We’ve kept things simple so far. We’ve backed ourselves. As a team, we are pushing each other. At every difficult time, someone is coming forward and taking a stand,” said the 27-year-old.Traditionally an opener, Gautami has shown flexibility with her batting position this season, saying she is prepared “to play any role the team wants”.The Smriti-led side began their campaign with five straight wins before losing two on the trot. But brushing aside concerns, RCB bounced back strongly, ending the league stage with an eight-wicket victory against UP Warriorz. Lauren believes those defeats made the former champions a better unit heading into the final.“You don’t learn loads when you win because everything’s gone well. But when you lose, there are lots of areas where you can learn and move forward. That’s really key for us heading into the final,” she said. “We’re also coming into it after a really strong win, so we’re in a very good place.”Having played their last league match on Jan 29, RCB head into the final after a week-long break. Asked if the gap could affect momentum, Lauren was unfazed.“When you have a week between your last game and the final, you don’t want to be thinking about the final the whole time because you’ll be exhausted,” she said.“We’ve spent time together away from the cricket environment to recharge. Now we’re back, with a few training sessions to really get ourselves ready,” she signed off.