RCB CLINCHES WPL
All-round effort propels Mandhana-led side to a facile win over DC
NEW DELHI: A clinical Royal Challengers Bangalore won the Women’s Premier League 2024 title with an eight-wicket victory over Delhi Capitals in the final here on Sunday.
Batting first, DC was bowled out for 113 in 18.3 overs. RCB chased down the target of 114 with three balls to spare, much to the disappointment of the weekend crowd that turned out to support the home team.
Earlier, Delhi lost the plot against RCB spinners after a flying start, crumbling like a pack of cards to be bowled out for 113. DC was cruising at 64 for no loss in 43 balls before it committed harakiri, losing 10 wickets for just 49 runs in front of a 28,781 capacity crowd, who looked divided in their loyalties.
Australia’s left-arm spinner Sophie Molineux (3/20) started DC’s downfall, picking up three wickets in the eighth over.
Thereafter, the host never really recovered, losing wickets at regular intervals, courtesy some loose shots and off-spinner Shreyanka Patil’s (4/12) exploits in the middle and late overs hastened their end.
Opting to bat, DC skipper Meg Lanning (23 off 23) and Shafali Verma (44 off 27) looked in a different world as they upped the tempo in a linear fashion.
Lanning, the second highest run-getter in the tournament, played the second fiddle as Shafali went hammer and tongs after a slow start in the first 11 balls.
Shafali was particularly destructive straight down the ground as she slammed her first three sixes in that region. She opened up her arms in the final delivery of the second over when she went down on her knee to dispatch Molineux over long on for the first six of the innings.
The right-arm fast bowler Renuka Singh was taken to task in the fourth over, which yielded 19 runs.
Shafali started the onslaught clobbering the bowler over her head for a six, which eventually inspired Lanning.
Lanning then struck two boundaries off the last two deliveries of the same over to match her partner.
Ellyse Perry also bore the brunt of Shafali’s wrath as the Australian all-rounder was hit over for a maximum and then a boundary as DC reached 52 in five overs.
The DC openers continued their attacking game and hit Sophie Devine for a boundary each in the next over to take the home team forward.
But RCB managed to put brakes on DC when Molineux scalped three wickets in the eighth over, dismissing Shafali, Jemmimah Rodrigues and Alice Capsey, the last two wickets even put her in the line for a hat-trick which eventually didn’t happen.
After reaching 72 for 3 at the halfway mark, DC’s mainstay Lanning, who was trying to resurrect the innings, departed, trapped leg before.
BRIEF SCORES: Delhi Capitals 113 in 18.3 overs (S Verma 44, S Patil 4/12, S Molineux 3/20) lost to RCB 115/2 in 19.3 overs (E Perry 35*, S Devine 32, S Mandhana 31)