Finally a much awaited trophy for the Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) as they got their maiden WPL trophy after defeating Delhi Capitals (DC) by 8 wickets.
It was also Bangalore’s first victory against Delhi in the WPL so far. They remain defeated in 4 matches. Their last defeat came against the finalist when Capitals registered 1 run victory against Royal.
Also it was Delhi’s back to back losses in the finals of the WPL. in the first season they were defeated by Mumbai.
In a slow, Delhi’s skipper Meg Lanning after winning the toss opted to bat first. Bangalore also wanted to do the same if they won the toss.
The Capitals were brutal in the powerplay and destroyed the bowlers pretty well. Openers Shafali Verma (44 runs) and Meg Lanning (23 runs) posted 64 runs for the 1st wicket in 7 overs. They were looking for a high total as they got the start which they wanted.
But unfortunately as the first wicket fell, suddenly the team collapsed. The wickets were falling at regular intervals. As a result the remaining 9 wickets fall after adding just 49 more runs. Whole team got submitted at 18.3 overs after scoring 113 runs.
At the start of the innings, the royal bowlers were highly expensive. But special thanks to their spinners who got the nerves of the batters. Especially Sophie Molineux who got 3 wickets in the 8th over and placed her team to a little advantage.
Then Shreyanka Patil who got 4 wickets and totally wrecked the whole batting line up. After this she got the purple cap and became the most wicket taker in this tournament with 13 wickets. Asha Sobhana got 2 wickets and took her wicket tally to 12 in the tournament and was the second most successful bowler in the tournament.
As the target was under par, therefore Bangalore started a little slow. For the first wicket they put 49 runs in 8 overs. Openers Sophie Devine (32 runs) and skipper Smriti Mandhana (31 runs) played according to the situation. But in the middle the equation came to runs per ball required, where it looked a little tough for the Challengers.
But it was again Ellyse Perry (35 runs not out), who not only tried to keep her patience but also took her team to the victory. Richa Ghosh (17 runs not out) supported her pretty well. With Richa’s boundary, they got the opportunity to lift the trophy.
Delhi’s bowler also bowled quite well as they took the match till the last over despite being too low runs. Shikha Pandey and Minnu Mani got 1 wicket each.