Royal Challengers Bangalore were crowned the champions of the second edition of the Women’s Premier League on Sunday. The Smriti Mandhana-led team lifted the title with an eight-wicket victory over Delhi Capitals in the final held at the Arun Jaitley Stadium, New Delhi.
Indian youngster Shreyanka Patil and Australian spinner Sophie Molineux took a combined seven wickets to bowl out the Meg Lanning-led Capitals for 113. Then RCB’s top order produced crucial knocks to chase down the low target with eight wickets and 3 balls remaining.
This win also marked the end of the franchise’s 16-year-long wait for the silverware, having lost three times in the Indian Premier League finals (2009, 2011, and 2016). Captain Smriti Mandhana finally fulfilled RCB fans’ famous ‘Ee Sala Cup Namde’ chant to script history.
Shreyanka, 21, took four wickets for 12 runs to clinch the Purple Cap, while Ellyse Perry smashed an unbeaten 35 to claim the Orange Cap.
Meanwhile, Delhi Capitals were off to a cracking start after winning the toss in the final. Meg Lanning and Shafali Verma helped Delhi post 61 runs without losing a wicket in the powerplay overs as RCB bowlers struggled with the new ball.
Molineux gave RCB a breakthrough in the eighth over by taking three big wickets of Shafali Verma, Alice Capsey, and Jemimah Rodrigues, and then Delhi never found a chance to make a comeback.
Shreyanka took Lanning’s crucial wicket and then took three more to produce the best figures in the WPL final, finishing with 4 for 12. Shafali top-scored with 44 off 27 balls, but her valiant knock came for the losing side.
Royal Challengers Bangalore also enjoyed an impressive start from Mandhana and Sophie Devine, who added 49 runs for the opening wicket. Delhi bowlers produced greedy spells to keep the game alive and eventually dragged it to the wire.
But Richa Ghosh and in-form Ellyse Perry kept their calm to avoid any last-over drama, with the former smashing the winning runs off Arundhati Reddy.
