RCB appoints Indian tennis legend Sania Mirza as the team’s mentor for the Women’s Premier League (WPL) 2023. The official Twitter account of RCB confirmed the development on Wednesday.
“The pioneer in Indian sports for women, a youth icon, someone who has played Bold and broken barriers throughout her career, and a champion on and off the field. We are proud to welcome Sania Mirza as the mentor of the RCB women’s cricket team,” the tweet read.
I was a little surprised but I was excited. Fortunately or unfortunately, I’ve been a professional athlete for 20 years. My next job is to try and help young women and young girls believe that sports can be one of the first career choices for them,” Mirza said in a chat with RCB after her appointment.
Despite being from a different sport, Sania being roped in as a mentor for cricket. Mirza stated that handling pressure is a key to any sport and she will work with the players on their mental aspect.
“(There are) so much commonalities (between cricket and tennis). Every athlete thinks the same way, they go through same kind of pressure. Just handling pressure situations, embracing them is very important. Pressire is a privelege, if you can’t embrace it, you can’t excel at it. The biggest of champions are those who can handle the pressure,” Mirza said.
The RCB had star studded line up at the inaugral session, headlined by Smriti Mandhana, Ellyse Perry, Megan Schutt, Sophie Devine, Dane van Niekerk and Richa Ghosh.
Royal Challengers are yet to announce their entire coaching roster, but have VR Vanitha, the former India international, and Malolan Rangarajan, a lead talent scout for the Royal Challengers men’s team, in their support staff, and Mike Hesson will be in-charge of the team as director of cricket.
The team will open its WPL campaign on March 5, the second day of the tournament, against Delhi Capitals at Brabourne Stadium.
The 36-year-old athlete — who played her first Grand Slam 18 years ago — participated in the last Australian Open event of her career on the 27th Jan.
From 2009 to 2016, Sania won six Grand Slam doubles titles – three each in the women’s doubles and mixed doubles. In 2015, she even became the world’s No. 1 in the women’s doubles ranking