Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) have begun their preparations for the next Women’s Premier League (WPL 2026) season after finishing second last in the previous edition by naming a new head coach and a bowling coach.
Assistant coach from last season, Tamil Nadu spinner Malolan Rangarajan will step in at the helm while former England pacer Anya Shrubsole has been onboarded as the bowling coach replacing Sunetra Paranjape.
The change at the top had to be done since head coach Luke Williams, who was recruited ahead of the 2024 season will miss the WPL 2026 due to his commitments in the Big Bash League (BBL) with Adelaide Strikers.
The overlap is due to a scheduling conflict, with WPL getting pushed forward by a month with India slated to co-host the men’s T20 World Cup 2026 next alongisde Sri Lanka. The WPL 2026 is slated to begin on January 8 and will end in early February, followed by the ICC event in the February-March window before IPL 2026.
Apart from Rangarajan and Shrubsole, the other members of the RCB support staff for next season include R Muralidhar (batting coach) and Navnita Gautam (head physio).
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As the new head coach, Malolan Rangarajan’s first big task will be to finalise the list of retained and released players for the WPL 2026 mega-auction which is scheduled for November 26. The retention deadline for the same has been set for November 5.
With a maximum of five players allowed to be retained with a cap on two overseas players, RCB will have a tough task to cull the list. Skipper Smriti Mandhana seems to be the obvious choice to make the cut with star Australian all-rounder Ellyse Perry also expected to be in the RCB retained players list.
Wicketkeeper-batter, Richa Ghosh, who played a crucial role along with Smriti in India’s recent Women’s World Cup 2025 win will also likely be retained with Sophie Molineux and Shreyanka Patil also in contention for a spot.
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