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WPL: Inside RCB’s year-round player hunt
Malolan Rangarajan, RCB’s head coach for this WPL who also works in scouting roles across its men’s and women’s teams, shares insights into their process of identifying the right fit for their side
New Delhi: When Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) entered the 2025 Women’s Premier League (WPL) auction room here on Thursday, there was a sense of quiet certainty around their table.
For Malolan Rangarajan, their head coach this season who also works in scouting roles across RCB’s men’s and women’s teams, that calmness was a result of years of repetition and a kind of muscle memory.
“We got about 85-90% of what we wanted,” Rangarajan told HT. “Our clarity came from experience. A lot of what happened looked very similar to the IPL 2025 mega auction. Knowing how the first sets can explode with money kept us alert.”
It is that dual exposure across two teams, two leagues and two talent pipelines that gives Rangarajan a panoramic view of Indian’s scouting ecosystem.
The former Tamil Nadu and Uttarakhand cricketer has been scouting for RCB’s men’s team since 2019. He was assistant to Luke Williams for the women’s team in the last WPL, and will don the role of head coach for the upcoming season after Williams stepped down.
Although data and analytics has become an increasingly important part of scouting, the process remains largely purist for Rangarajan.
“Scouting is often seen as just identifying unknown players,” he said. “That’s only one part. The real key is identifying players who can create impact – whether unknown or experienced.”
RCB’s talent identification operates across four to five layers before zeroing in on a good fit. It starts with data to establish a baseline, and moves to eye tests through match scouting and videos. The players, especially the uncapped ones, then go through a kind of psychological evaluation to ensure they align with the team’s needs. They then factor in the coach’s validation to test whether the scouts’ observations hold up in technical review or trials.
But perhaps the most crucial layer for Rangarajan is role fit analysis — making sure that the player fits into the role that the team needs.
“It doesn’t work in isolation. It’s never just: ‘This player looks good.’ There are layers,” he said.. “Everything must align with how we want to play.”
In this auction, that philosophy shaped two of RCB’s most intriguing picks: Gautami Naik and Prathyoosha Kumar. Both uncapped players were picked for ₹10lakh each.
Gautami, a spin-bowling all-rounder from Baroda, ticked almost every box for them. Known for her aggressive top-order batting, she is the fifth-highest run-getter (264 runs in five innings) in the recently concluded Senior Women’s T20 Trophy.
“She has power, long levers, is athletic, a good fielder, and can bowl off-spin. We had enough intel to know she may not attract many bids. The primary point is she ticked all boxes. With uncapped players, we also see how they handle pressure. She’s exciting,” said Rangarajan.
Local girl Prathyoosha has been a long-term project for RCB: “She’s travelled with the team for two years as a backup wicket-keeper. We followed her in the Maharani Trophy and for Karnataka. We needed a backup for Richa (Ghosh). Having seen her closely, we felt we could groom her over the next couple of seasons.”
One of the lesser-discussed parts of scouting, reckons Rangarajan, is assessing mental readiness — especially for a franchise like RCB, where performance pressure and massive fandom dwarf the usual domestic cricket environment.
“Unless a player experiences it, they have no idea what it’s like,” he said. “We try to find out what support they need once they join us. Our job is to help them cope. That’s a non-negotiable.”
The RCB support staff has often included female presence. To go with Courtney Winfield-Hill and Vanitha VR in the past, they have roped in the services of former India player Sunetra Paranjpe and ex-England pacer Anya Shrubsole (bowling coach) this year. Add to that the presence of Krithika V and Swagatika Rath in a female-heavy scouting group, the franchise has been praised for promoting women in leadership roles.
Rangarajan sheds any doubts about tokenism. “It starts with the fact that RCB got another team in a BCCI tournament. That’s where it starts and it trickles down from upwards,” he said.
“We want the best people involved. If they’re women, great but it’s not men vs women. It’s about having the right people. Yes, having women on staff helps with comfort levels but the conscious effort is not gender. The consciousness comes from the fact that we want a team in the IPL and WPL and we’ll do our best to make both teams the best possible.”
