Royal Challengers Bangalore Women Win WPL 2024, Beat Delhi Capitals Women in Final by Eight Wickets
The win for Royal Challengers Bangalore was orchestrated by their spinners with the trio of Shreyanka Patil, Sophie Molineux and Asha Sobhana taking nine wickets in total. Delhi Capitals, unfortunately, now have lost two consecutive finals after they suffered a defeat in the summit clash of the inaugural edition as well.
Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) have won the Women's Premier League (WPL) 2024 title with an eight-wicket victory over Delhi Capitals (DC) in the final at the Arun Jaitley Stadium on Sunday, March 17. With this, Smriti Mandhana and co have won the first silverware for the Royal Challengers Bangalore franchise in the form of the WPL 2024 trophy. Chasing just 114 to win, Ellyse Perry (35*) and Richa Ghosh (17*) saw their team through to the win. The match was largely one-sided with Royal Challengers Bangalore dominating proceedings after a quickfire start from Delhi Capitals. Delhi Capitals' decision to bat first after winning the toss proved to be justified for the first seven overs when Shafali Verma (44) and Meg Lanning (23) took apart the Royal Challengers Bangalore attack, scoring 64 runs.  WPL 2024 Orange Cap and Purple Cap Winners.
But that was probably the only phase of the game where Delhi Capitals had the upper hand as Royal Challengers Bangalore players put in a magnificent bowling display tonight. It took one over from Sophie Molineux (3/20) to turn the tide around in favour of the Royal Challengers Bangalore. The Australian spinner scripted the turnaround for her side with three wickets in one over, which included the dismissals of Verma, Jemimah Rodrigues (0) and Alice Capsey (0). However, it was Shreyanka Patil who turned out to be the best bowler for her team with figures of 4/12 in just 3.3 overs. Asha Sobhana also took two wickets. Delhi Capitals, the most consistent side in WPL 2024, were bowled out for just 113 runs in 18.3 overs in what was a forgettable batting effort in the biggest game of the tournament. Barring her three wickets, Molineux was also impressive on the field, as she ran out Radha Yadav with a magnificent direct hit. Three Wickets in One Over! Sophie Molineux Dismisses Shafali Verma, Jemimah Rodrigues and Alice Capsey in Game-Changing Over During DC-W vs RCB-W WPL 2024 Final (Watch Video).
Chasing 114 was never going to be too much of a tough ask for Royal Challengers Bangalore. Opener Sophie Devine scored a 27-ball 32 with five fours and one six to provide RCB with a decent start. Captain Smriti Mandhana also scored 31 runs. But Delhi Capitals bowlers did not make things too easy for RCB with Shikha Pandey (1/11 in four overs) and Minnu Mani (1/12) being the best performers. Delhi did take the game to the last over but in the end, it was RCB who came out on top. This was also RCB's first win over Delhi Capitals in the WPL. Also, this defeat now means that Delhi Capitals have lost both the WPL finals so far after they had suffered a defeat in the inaugural WPL summit clash to Mumbai Indians.
(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Mar 17, 2024 10:38 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).