Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) finally found their night of reckoning as glory as the Smriti Mandhana-led side won the first silverware of the franchise on Sunday, defeating Delhi Capitals by eight wickets in the Women’s Premier League (WPL) final at the Arun Jaitley Stadium. Chasing a target of 114, RCB achieved their goal with eight wickets and two balls to spare. RCB’s first WPL success sparked celebrations all over social media. Ahead of the presentation ceremony, RCB captain Mandhana received a special video call from star batter and former skipper of the men’s team Virat Kohli.
Photos and videos of Mandhana’s interaction with Kohli went viral on social media.
Kohli also took to Instagram to congratulate the RCB women’s team on their maiden IPL success.
“Suporwomen,” Kohli captioned the story.
Chasing a modest target, RCB started cautiously with the pair of Mandhana and Devine sharing 49 runs in 8.1 overs.
While Mandhana played the role of an anchor, Devine opted to attack, decorating her innings with five boundaries and one maximum before she was trapped in front by pacer Shikha Pandey.
The wicket seemed to have slowed down RCB as Mandhana and Perry struggled to find their timing as boundaries dried up.
Perry finally broke the shackles in the 13th over, hitting pacer Arundhati Reddy to the deep midwicket boundary and then two balls later Mandhana cut the bowler to backward point fence.
RCB were nearly at home, reaching 82 for one in the 15th over but a rash shot from Mandhana led to her downfall.
The left-hander skied a Minnu Mani delivery to Reddy at mid-on to keep the contest alive.
But Perry continued her fine run and in the company of Richa Ghosh (17 not out) calmly helped RCB reach 115 in 19.3 overs, sharing an unbeaten 33 runs for the third wicket.
Ghosh finished off the chase in style with a four off Reddy.
