Spinners Shreyanka Patil, Sophie Molineux, and Asha Sobhana took nine wickets between them while Ellyse Perry showed calmness with an unbeaten 35 to help Royal Challengers Bangalore win the Women’s Premier League (WPL) 2024 title with an eight-wicket win over Delhi Capitals at the Arun Jaitley Stadium here on Sunday.
The long-used phrase of ‘Ee Sala Cup Namde’, which translates to ‘this year the cup is ours’, and the ridicule around it came to an end as a far-fetched dream finally became a reality for RCB in winning their first-ever WPL title and become just the second winners in the history of the competition. Shreyanka was the hero with the ball, taking 4-12 and becoming the leading wicket-taker of the tournament, while Sophie’s triple strike and Asha’s two scalps ensured DC were bowled out for 113 in 18.3 overs, after being 64/0 at one point. In the chase, Ellyse, who is the leading run-getter in the competition, stayed till the end to complete the chase in 19.3 overs.
With the chase being of just 114, Smriti Mandhana and Sophie Devine took their time to make 25 runs in Power-play, including hitting three boundaries collectively off Marizanne Kapp. RCB got the momentum they waited for in the seventh over when Sophie swept twice off Radha Yadav and then danced down the pitch to hit the left-arm spinner for a six in the 18-run over. But her knock ended on 32 in the ninth over when she played all around a nip-backer from Shikha Pandey to be trapped lbw.
Though the runs dried up for RCB, Smriti and Ellyse kept the chase in control by going slow and looking at a chance to up the ante. They got the opportunity when Ellyse pulled Arundhati Reddy for a boundary, while Smriti timed a drive exquisitely past the backward point for another four in the 13th over. Ellyse then lofted Jess Jonassen over mid-off for four but lost Smriti to Minnu Mani, who was beaten in flight while going for the loft and holed out to mid-on. Ellyse and Richa Ghosh rotated strike briefly before the latter cut Minnu through point for four.
Ellyse pulled Jess through mid-wicket for four and then swept Alice Capsey past fine leg for another boundary to take RCB closer to victory. Richa sealed the deal for RCB when she lofted Arundhati over mid-off for four, sparking jubilant celebrations in the camp and in the entire Bengaluru city on winning the WPL 2024 trophy.
Brief scores:
Delhi Capitals 113 all out in 18.3 overs (Shafali Verma 44, Meg Lanning 23; Shreyanka Patil 4-12, Sophie Molineux 3-20) lost to Royal Challengers Bangalore 115/2 in 19.3 overs (Ellyse Perry 35 not out, Shikha Pandey 1-11) by eight wickets.
