WPL 2023: 'It hurts, not going to lie' - Megan Schutt after RCB's 5th straight loss

WPL 2023: Royal Challengers Bangalore has yet to get things right this season, having been winless, as it suffered its fifth consecutive defeat on Monday to Delhi Capitals. Meanwhile, Megan Schutt feels that RCB needs more improvement.

It has been a turbulent ride for Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) in the 2023 Women's Premier League (WPL), the inaugural edition of the premier Twenty20 (T20) event. In five contests, it remains winless, as its task to qualify for the Eliminator has become increasingly complex, with just three fixtures to go.

On Monday, playing at the Dr DY Patil Sports Academy Stadium in Navi Mumbai, RCB was asked to bat first and could manage a par total of 150/4, with Ellyse Perry being the top scorer with an unbeaten knock of 67. The chase went down to the wire, as Delhi Capitals (DC) attained the target with a couple of deliveries to spare, besides winning by six wickets.

Meanwhile, Megan Schutt was hurt by RCB's failures so far and feels that it has much more to improve despite having shown progress with every passing encounter. "Yeah, it hurts. I am not going to lie. We improved in many areas today and showed a lot of fire, which we have not done in previous matches. The change of venues was nice, to be honest, but unfortunately, not enough runs on the board today. A few big overs changed the game slightly," she said post-failure.

"It was a big toss to lose. Even in my warm-up overs before the game, I could tell there was a little tack in the wicket. It was a tough wicket, to begin with. Kappy is a world-class bowler, as are a few others in their squad. You got to give credit to that as well. They bowled some terrific lines. The cutters were holding in the wicket there. I think the intent was there. Unfortunately, we hit [it to the] fielders too many times and [played] too many dots," added Schutt.

"It has been a whole team effort, in a way. We have leaked too many runs in the field while bowling and fielding and probably are not putting enough on the board. We cannot put it down to a person's performance. Richa [Ghosh] was short of runs, and today she batted the way I have seen her bat for India so many times, so again, that is short-format cricket. It is fickle. You cannot come off performance in every single game. [I am] not going to pin that on one player alone, but I think we need to be collectively 10-15 per cent better," Schutt concluded.