bengaluru while most womens premier league franchises have roped in former cricketers as team mentors the royal challengers bangalore have taken a road less travelled in a move akin to their tagline play bold the bengalurubased franchise on wednesday announced pathbreaking tennis player sania mirza as the team mentora majority reaction to the announcement has been why a tennis player as a mentor why not a mentor is a trusted adviser an achiever with experience and the decorated tennis superstar fits the description to the t also coming from an individual sport she lends a fresh perspective and the players can draw inspiration from her experience while the core of the team comprises established players like smriti mandhana sophie devine meghan schutt and ellyse perry the indians in the lineup are either upandcoming talents like richa ghosh or domestic cricketers who are unexposed to the razzmatazzspeaking to the rcb social media team the hyderabadi said i was a little surprised when the team approached me but i was really excited i want to help the younger generation believe in themselves and no matter how many odds are against you you can achieve your goals if you back yourselfthe 36yearold who retires from the sport after the dubai open later this month believes she can contribute to the team in terms of helping the younger lot deal with pressure and dwell on the mental aspect of sporti think every athlete thinks the same way and goes through the same kind of pressures handling pressure situations and embracing them is very important the mental aspect is something i look forward to working on with the girls this is such an amazing opportunity for them they are playing on one of the biggest stages i feel i can bring in mental steadiness and belief i can talk to them about the experiences of the last 20 years sania explained sawyer to helm coaching staffnew zealand womens cricket team head coach ben sawyer will head rcbs panel of coaches the former assistant coach of the australian womens side who took over the reins of the white ferns last year comes in with a rich experience of coaching in t20 leaguesthe 43yearold coached the sydney sixers from 20152021 in the womens big bash league and was also at the helm of the birmingham phoenix womens team at the hundred tournament in 2021he has been part of womens cricket for over 20 years now knows the cricketers thoroughly understands the game and has been involved in our preparations right from the beginning said mike hesson rcbs director of cricketrcbs head of scouting and former tamil nadu player malolan rangarajan is the teams assistant head coachthe coaching staff has a strong karnataka flavour with renowned coach rx murali being roped in as the batting coach and former india toporder batter vr vanitha coming in as the fielding coach murali currently the head coach of the nagaland womens team is a much soughtafter among men and