The Australian all-rounder has withdrawn from the Women's Premier League this season.
The fourth edition of Women’s Premier League is on the horizon, and all the franchises will be geared up for the showdown event to commence. The Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) have a bit more to deal with than other teams due to Ellyse Perry. The latest WPL 2026 news has identified a few candidates for RCB to fill in for Perry.
The Australian all-rounder pulled out of the tournament due to personal reasons, leaving a hole in the RCB playing XI. The franchise has signed Sayali Satghare as a replacement. But her batting position remains a big point of concern for the 2024 champions.
Ellyse Perry was a vital component of the side due to her ability to anchor the innings, while coming in at No.3. It’s a position which will have to be taken by a much less experienced player now. With skipper Smriti Mandhana and Georgia Voll opening the innings and the franchise having a lot of firepower at the back-end, the most important question would be – who takes the No.3 spot?
With the team that the RCB management has in front of them, Dayalan Hemalatha is the name that they should look forward to. Though Sayali Satghare is Perry’s replacement, she does not have exposure batting in the top three. Hemalatha has scored most of her T20I runs at No.3, and should get the nod for the role.
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Out of the 23 T20Is which she has played to date, Dayalan Hemalatha has walked out at No.3 on nine occasions and has scored more than 50% of her runs. Therefore, she is RCB’s best bet to take up the spot and play her natural game.
Hemalatha was a part of the Gujarat Giants setup for three seasons. She scored almost 300 runs in the 22 matches that she played. To add to that, she has a highest score of 74 in WPL, which suggests that she can play the anchor role.
The other option for RCB for the same role would be someone like Grace Harris. But she doesn’t have enough experience at the No.3 role. Most of her innings have come down at six, and placing her at three would be asking for too much from the Australian.
All said and done, experienced batters like Smriti Mandhana and Richa Ghosh are going to have to take a lot more responsibility on their shoulders due to the absence of Ellyse Perry. But Dayalan Hemalatha is their best bet at No.3, as she has been in that position before and has shown that she is capable of handling the pressure that comes with the position.
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