WPL 2026: Anya Shrubsole Joins RCB as Bowling Coach, Malolan Rangarajan Takes Over as Head Coach

Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) have made changes to their support staff ahead of the WPL 2026 season. Former England fast bowler Anya Shrubsole has been named the new bowling coach.

She will work with Malolan Rangarajan, the former Tamil Nadu spinner, who will take over as head coach for the season. This change comes as Luke Williams, who joined as head coach before the 2024 season, will miss WPL 2026 because of his commitments with the Adelaide Strikers in the BBL.

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Anya Shrubsole Batter

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Royal Challengers Bengaluru Women Founded: 2023

Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) Women is a professional cricket team in the Women's Premier League (WPL).

RCB Appoint Anya Shrubsole as Bowling Coach

A scheduling conflict has arisen because the WPL has been advanced by a month. The tournament is set to begin on January 8 and will end in early February. India is then slated to co-host the men's T20 World Cup with Sri Lanka in the February-March window, before IPL 2026.

A World Cup winner in 2017, Shrubsole retired from international cricket in 2022 with over 200 wickets. In the season that followed, she served as player-and-assistant coach under Charlotte Edwards at Southern Vipers. Her stint with RCB will be her first in the WPL. Sunetra Paranjape was previously bowling coach of RCB until 2025.

Rangarajan has been part of RCB’s WPL setup since the very first season. He worked with Ben Sawyer and Mike Hesson in 2023, and later became the assistant coach to Luke Williams during their title-winning campaign in 2024. He also held the same role last season, when the team missed out on the final. Rangarajan is also the lead scout for the RCB men’s team. The rest of the support staff includes R. Muralidhar, who will continue as the batting coach, and Navnita Gautam, who is expected to stay on as the head physio.

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Malolan Rangarajan Batter

Malolan Rangarajan Named Head Coach for WPL 2026

Rangarajan’s first job will be to finalise which players RCB will keep before the November 5 deadline. The WPL mega auction is expected to take place on November 26 in New Delhi. The team has already agreed that Smriti Mandhana will be their main retention and continue as captain for the next WPL season. They are also talking to Ellyse Perry, Richa Ghosh, Sophie Molineux, and Shreyanka Patil about staying with the team.

RCB support staff for WPL 2026

• Malolan Rangarajan – Head coach
• Anya Shrubsole – Bowling coach
• R Muralidhar – Batting coach
• Navnita Gautam – Head physio

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