WPL Final Review: Bangalore crowned champions of 2024
Royal Challengers Bangalore Women won the second edition of the Women’s Premier League with an eight-wicket win over Delhi Capitals Women in the final on Sunday, March 17 at Arun Jaitley Stadium, Delhi. After winning the toss and opting to bat first, Delhi was bundled out for 113 in the first innings in 18.3 overs.
In reply, RCB comfortably chased down the target in 19.3 overs as Ellyse Perry (35* off 37) and Richa Ghosh (17* off 14) guided the team home. Openers Smriti Mandhana (31 off 39) and Sophie Devine (32 off 27) also made valuable contributions adding 49 runs for the first wicket.
Earlier in the day, after winning the crucial toss in the all-important final, Delhi Capitals captain Meg Lanning elected to bat first. Her decision was vindicated by her opening partner Shafali Verma who looked at her usual best mercilessly clobbering bowlers all over the park. Verma’s fireworks helped DC get off to a blazing start as they were 61/0 after the first six overs.
However, tragedy struck DC in the eighth over Sophie Molineux dismissed the dangerous Varma (44 off 27), Jemimah Rodrigues (0 off 2), and Alice Capsey (0 off 1) in a space of four deliveries to put on the breaks Delhi’s innings. Asha Shobhana also joined the party getting the prized scalps of Marizanne Kapp (8 off 16) and Jess Jonassen (3 off 11) in the 14th over.
Meanwhile, Shreyanka Patil got the big wicket of captain Lanning and cleaned up the tail as DC suffered a dramatic collapse and were bundled out for 113 in their allotted 20 overs.
Top Performers of the Match
Shafali Verma
The Delhi opener got her team off to a blazing start with her blistering knock of 44 off 27 balls. Verma clobbered two fours and three sixes in her innings and added 64 runs for the first wicket off 49 balls.
Shreyanka Patil
The right-arm spinner was the pick of the bowlers for her team for the second consecutive game registering figures of 4/12 in 3.3 overs. Patil got the big wicket of Meg Lanning (23 off 23) in the 11th over and dismissed Minnu Mani, Arundhati Reddy, and Taniya Bhatia to clean up DC’s tail to bundle them out for 113.
