WPL 2025: Royal Challengers Bengaluru name Charlie Dean as replacement for injured Sophie Molineux

Charlie Dean in England T20I colours (Source: Charlie Dean/ Instagram)

The WPL 2025 is set to kick off on February 7 and will be played at four venues. Defending champions Royal Challengers Bengaluru Women (RCB-W) will want to make sure that they maintain the dominance they showed in the previous season.

The RCB-W squad looks solid after the auction in which they bought good talent. However, they recently suffered a big blow as their star left-arm spinner Sophie Molineux will not be playing in the upcoming season due to a knee injury and is officially ruled out. The 26-year-old Australian cricketer had a great season last year. She was the third-highest wicket-taker in the tournament, taking 12 wickets from 10 matches.

This is sad news for Smriti Mandhana and Co. who will be missing one of their best players from the last season. Sophie has now been replaced by English off-spinner Charlie Dean who is yet to play a game in the WPL. Dean has played 36 T20I matches for England, taking 46 wickets with an incredible economy of 6.91 and an average of only 18.19. The 24-year-old talent is also known to play handy cameos with the bat as well and has a strike rate of 111.57 playing for England.

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The last WT20I series played by Dean was against South Africa Women where she emerged as the highest wicket-taker in the three-match series, taking six wickets at an average of 12.33 and an economy of 6.72. She was also the Player of the Match in the third T20I where she bowled a great spell of 3/26 in her full quota of four overs.