Bangalore rope in Ben Sawyer as head coach for Women's T20 League

Ben Sawyer, the current coach of the New Zealand women's team, has been appointed as the head coach of Bangalore for the first season of the Women’s T20 League, which is set to begin on March 4. Sawyer, who previously served as the assistant coach of the Australian women's team, will be reunited with White Ferns skipper Sophie Devine, who was one of the three marquee players bought by Bangalore at Monday's player auction. Sawyer has a successful track record, having led the Sixers to consecutive Women’s Australian T20 League titles in 2016-17 and 2017-18.

Mike Hesson will remain as the Bangalore Director of Cricket, but the team has made some new coaching appointments. Malolan Rangarajan, who previously led the scouting team, has been promoted to assistant coach. Vanitha VR, a former India opener and member of the scouting team, has been appointed as the team's new fielding coach. Additionally, RX Murali has been hired as the batting coach for the upcoming 2023 season.

"He (Ben Sawyer) has been part of Women's cricket over 20 years now, knows the cricketers thoroughly, understands the game and has been involved in our preparations right from the beginning," Hesson was quoted as saying in the club statement. "I am really delighted to have him and he is as excited to join us. We also have Malo who has been part of our men's system and scouting team and he will bring a lot of value as Vanitha and RX Murali who have extensive experience of working in Karnataka with the women players and are highly sought after. We have a great team of talented support staff too along with the coaching team who we want to grow and develop too," he added.

Today, Bangalore announced that retired tennis player Sania Mirza will serve as their mentor for the upcoming Women's T20 Challenge. It is highly likely that Indian vice-captain Smriti Mandhana will lead the Bangalore team, as the club spent INR 3.4 crore to acquire her at the auction, making her the most expensive purchase. The team's first game will be against Delhi on March 5. The inaugural season of the Women’s T20 League will be played in Mumbai from March 2-21, with two venues and a double round-robin format. The top team at the end of the league games will advance directly to the final on March 26, while the second and third-ranked teams will compete in an eliminator on March 24 to secure the final spot.