Royal Challengers Bengaluru have shuffled their back-room team before the 2026 Women’s Premier League, advancing former England seamer Anya Shrubsole into the bowling-coach role and asking long-time assistant Malolan Rangarajan to act as interim head coach.
The move is largely calendar-driven. Luke Williams, appointed head coach two seasons ago, will stay with Adelaide Strikers during the overlapping Big Bash, so Rangarajan – “Malo” to most inside the camp – takes the reins for one campaign.
Shrubsole, a 2017 World Cup winner who finished international cricket in 2022 with 227 wickets across formats, comes in after a season-and-a-half as player-assistant with Southern Vipers. “Coaching is something I’ve enjoyed since stepping away from England duty,” she said in the club statement. “RCB have a talented attack; my job is to add a bit of clarity rather than reinvent the wheel.”
Key dates have shifted. The WPL is scheduled from 8 January to early February, pulled forward to free space for a men’s T20 World Cup co-hosted by India and Sri Lanka in February-March, then the IPL. That earlier slot forced Williams’ absence and, in truth, pushed RCB to firm up staff decisions well ahead of the usual window.
Rangarajan, a former Tamil Nadu off-spinner who also leads scouting for the RCB men’s side, has worked every WPL edition to date. He assisted Ben Sawyer and Mike Hesson in 2023, then Williams during the breakthrough 2024 title run. “The calendar is tight, yet the group is fired up,” he noted on a quick media call. “Luke remains involved remotely, but day-to-day responsibility sits with me.”
Batting coach R Muralidhar and lead physio Navnita Gautam continue in their roles, providing a measure of continuity.
Retention choices come first. Franchises must lodge lists by 5 November; the mega-auction is pencilled in for 26 November, New Delhi. Smriti Mandhana, unsurprisingly, tops RCB’s retention board and stays captain. Discussions are progressing with Ellyse Perry, Richa Ghosh, Sophie Molineux and Shreyanka Patil.
Mandhana, briefly available between international assignments, kept it simple: “Most of us have unfinished business after missing the final last season. Fresh voices help, but the core belief stays.”
RCB’s WPL record reads fourth, champions, fourth – a mixed bag mirrored by the men’s side until their own breakthrough IPL title in 2025. Management insists the women’s squad will not be overhauled just for the sake of change. As Rangarajan put it, “We know where we slipped – death bowling and power-play strike rate. Anya’s expertise should address the first; we’ll sort the second at the auction if the right players are there.”
A modest reshuffle, then, rather than a revolution, yet one mindful of a condensed global schedule and the need for early precision.
