Sports

RCB Spinners Shine as WPL 2024 Trophy Comes to Bengaluru with ‘Ee Sala Cup Naamdu’ Victory

On Sunday night, Royal Challengers Bangalore’s long-standing goal of “Ee Sala Cup Naam De” was ultimately completed. Smriti Mandhana & Co. fulfilled a dream that the men’s IPL team has yet to accomplish with their maiden Women’s Premier League (IPL) title triumph. When RCB defeated the Delhi Capitals by an 8-wicket margin to win the WPL, they created history at the Arun Jaitley Stadium in New Delhi. Former RCB men’s captain Virat Kohli praised Smriti Mandhana via video chat after the women’s brigade’s victory, which was very heartfelt. Others, however, were having a great time at the venue’s light and sound performance and fireworks display.

Virat Kohli on video call with happy and emotional Smriti Mandana and RCB team ❤️ pic.twitter.com/guNnnM2tUF
— Pari (@BluntIndianGal) March 17, 2024

On a track that has remained sluggish for most of the competition, 113 would never have been enough to win a major final. Meg Lanning and company had previously intimidated the opponents with their batting prowess, but by the season’s end, they were hopelessly outmatched. Three of the eleven batters could not even open their accounts, while eight of them scored in single digits. Ultimately, they were all overcome with tears. RCB had the better of the night, and the deafening applause from the over 30,000 spectators will likely keep them up for a few more nights. “Slow and steady wins the race,” as they say, and RCB used this strategy to win the cup. Rather than dominating right away, they mainly relied on smaller alliances. A partnership of 33 runs for the second and third wickets sealed an easy victory for the Royal Challengers, while Mandhana and Sophie Devine added 49 runs to the opening wicket. Richa Ghosh started the celebration in the RCB camp by smashing a boundary off Arundhati Reddy’s bowling with three needed off as many deliveries.

Delhi succumbed to Bangalore’s spin onslaught as soon as their first Powerplay ended, eliminating them from the running. Despite using up to seven bowlers during the match, the RCB found comfort in their spinners following Delhi’s explosive opening burst. In just 18.3 overs, the combination of Asha Sobhana, Sophie Molineux, and Shreyanka Patil shared 9 wickets, reducing DC to a pitiful 113. Captain Meg Lanning and Shafali Verma went all out to score 61 runs in the powerplay after choosing to bat. Shefali spared none of the RCB’s fast bowlers, hitting everything between excellent length and full out of the park. In the first six overs, she had hit more sixes than boundaries, and Lanning was rapidly catching up.

Nonetheless, the WPL has had games take unexpected turns following timeouts, and this final was no exception. When the pacers were no longer needed, the spinners entered the game. Molineux destroyed the DC top-order in the eighth over, taking three valuable wickets. Verma, who holed out to Georgia Wareham at deep midwicket, was her first victim. Following consecutive deliveries, Jemimah Rodrigues and Alice Capsey fell, both getting clean bowled on a duck after putting up thoughtless strokes. Now, wickets were falling to the tweakers in droves. Delhi’s batting was further crippled by Sobhana’s double attack in the 14th over, which came after Molineux completed her task. Marizanne Kapp was killed after suffering a tossed-up leg break that went straight to Sophie Devine. After a delivery, Sobhana’s wrong’un brought Jess Jonassen to his knees, and DC, who had been leading 61 for none, were now down 81 for 6. Unexpectedly, everything came to pass following the second strategic time-out.

Also Read: Smriti Mandhana’s team defeats DC in the WPL 2024 to give RCB its first-ever league title

Patil was the bowler that the RCB selected, and he went on to win the Purple Cap after taking 13 wickets in 8 games. She entered the scene, trapping Meg Lanning in front, and in the 17th over, she removed Minnu Mani in a similar manner. She took wickets of wicketkeeper-battler Tania Bhatia and Arundhati Reddy in consecutive overs to end the DC innings, finishing with 4 for 12 in 3.3 overs, which was also the third-best bowling stats of the season.

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