'I was always going to come to New Zealand' - Heather Knight expresses no regrets on missing WPL Final for RCB

Royal Challengers Bangalore lifted the coveted Women’s Premier League (WPL 2024) Trophy on March 17. While the contributions from key players played a major role in their victory, they were without the services of one of their marquee players. England captain Heather Knight pulled out of the league at the last moment. She cited national duties as the reason for her not participating in the WPL. 

However, RCB went on to win the title against Delhi Capitals, and Knight has asserted that she has no regrets about missing out on the eventful celebrations. She is preparing for the first match of five T20I game series against New Zealand, which is going to be played at Dunedin on Tuesday. Her denial of participating in WPL stemmed from the fact, that the impending New Zealand series will act as a solid preparation process for the upcoming T20 World Cup in Bangladesh.

"I was always going to come [to New Zealand], so that was quite an easy decision for me. As captain, I wanted to be here and I want to be around the team for the build-up, and those three games.The ideal world would have been to leave the WPL a little early, but that wasn't an option to do so, because of the rules about replacement players,” Knight said as quoted by ESPNcricinfo.

“We wanted to have someone available for the whole competition. Those are the choices that players have to make now, it can be quite tricky, but I think it's really important that it's made on an individual level," she added.

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Knight misses live telecast of RCB’s final against DC

It’s worth noting that Heather Knight’s national side teammate, Kate Cross, was also part of the RCB squad. But, the right arm pacer was benched for the whole of the WPL 2024. Knight speaking of the Final, said that she missed out on the live telecast of the match due to differences in time zones. She also revealed that she watched the highlights of the game, the next morning.