WPL 2025: Asha Sobhana dents RCB a day before the tournament

The Royal Challengers Bangalore Women (RCB Women) team has suffered another setback ahead of the upcoming Women’s Premier League 2025 (WPL 2025) as the ace leg-spinner Asha Sobhana has been ruled out of the season due to an injury.

This is a significant setback for the Royal Challengers Bangalore’s title defense in the WPL 2025, as Asha Sobhana was the tournament's second-highest wicket-taker last season with 12 wickets. The leg-spinner picked up a knee injury during the Women's T20 World Cup 2024.

RCB Women faces major setback as Asha Sobhana ruled out of WPL 2025

Despite efforts, Asha failed to recover in time for the upcoming edition of the tournament. The Royal Challengers Bangalore women’s team has also announced the replacement for Asha. They have brought in the Railways wicketkeeper-batter Nuzhat Parween to replace the leg-spinner.

The RCB Women signed up Nuzhat Parween, who represented India Women in five T20I matches, at the base price of INR 30 lakh for the upcoming Women’s Premier League 2025. Parween will serve as a backup wicketkeeper to Richa Ghosh. Recently, she scored 134 runs at a strike rate of 101.51 for Railways in the Senior Women's T20 Trophy.

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Smriti Mandhana reacts to Asha Sobhana's setback

RCB Women skipper Smriti Mandhana said ahead of the match, “She was pretty much one of our main wicket-takers for us last year, but when she got injured during the World Cup, we knew that we might not get her services. But we wanted to retain her at the auction. Since we knew that she might be unavailable, we went hard at the auction for Prema (Rawat).”

Meanwhile, the Royal Challengers Bangalore are already facing challenges with half of their foreign contingent unavailable. Sophie Molineux, who was one of the team's joint second-highest wicket-takers last season, has pulled out due to a knee injury that she sustained during the Women's Ashes.

England’s Kate Cross has also withdrawn to focus on rehabilitation for a busy international season. Additionally, New Zealand’s Sophie Devine has decided to take a break from all domestic cricket. The defending WPL champions are also sweating over the fitness of Shreyanka Patil and Ellyse Perry.

RCB sweating over Shreyanka Patil's fitness

Shreyanka Patil’s availability is still not clear due to her long recovery from a shin injury. Patil has been at the National Cricket Academy (NCA) since returning from the T20 World Cup 2024, and she missed both the home season and India's tour of Australia.

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Notably, Shreyanka was the Emerging Player of the last season and Purple Cap holder. On the other hand, Ellyse Perry has already arrived in India and joined the RCB camp, but the skipper Smriti Mandhan didn’t provide any clarity on whether the Australian all-rounder will take part in their WPL 2025 opener against Gujarat Giants in Vadodara on February 14.

Ellyse Perry ready to rewrite the books with RCB in WPL

On Ellyse Perry joining the team amidst the fitness concerns, Mandhana noted, “We look like a complete side now,” she said. “We are really looking forward to the WPL’s third edition.”

On the other hand, Perry is excited to play in the upcoming WPL 2025 and help her team to retain the title. She added, “We are ready to rewrite the books. We are confident, and it is awesome that we are finally going to play in front of our home fans.”