WPL 2024: RCB Women Lift The Title For The First Time

WPL 2024 Final: RCB Vs DC:  Royal Challengers Bangalore beats Delhi Capitals by 8 wickets to win the first-ever WPL title. 

RCB Women’s script history ends 16-year-old wait as they claim their first title for the franchise across all leagues by beating Delhi Capitals by 8 wickets in the final at Arun Jaitley Stadium, New Delhi. 

With this win, the RCB women, led by Simriti Madhana, have clinched the WPL title for the first time. This is also RCB’s first-ever T20 title across both the WPL and IPL. A day to remember for the whole RCB franchise. 

Highlights of The Match 

Chasing down the total of 114 runs, RCB, led by Smriti Mandhana, clinched an easy win as they reached the target in just 19 overs, beating Delhi Capitals by 8 wickets in the finals of the WPL 2024. 

The Delhi Capitals skipper won the toss and elected to bat first. Shefali Verma and Lanning gave Delhi a flying start, scoring 61 runs in the powerplay. Shefali was thrashing bowlers all over the park, and she was set to become the first Indian women’s batter to score a 50 in the WPL final. She scored 44 runs off just 27 balls with three bug sixes.

However, things changed when Molineux came into the attack. She dismissed Shefali, Jemmimah and Capsey in the same over, resulting in a major blow from 64-0 to 65-3. Later, Shreyanka joined the party by dismissing Lanning in the 11th over of the game. From here, things completely changed for Delhi Capitals as they lost 4 more wickets in the quick sessions, resulting in 81-7 in the 15th over. Minnu Mani and Arundhati Roy somehow managed to take the score past a hundred, but their stay was short-lived as Delhi suffered a major collapse from 63-0 to 114-10 in just 18.3 overs.

Molineux and Shreyanka shined with the balls, taking 7 wickets for just 25 runs in their innings. Molinuex took 3 wickets for just 12 runs, while Shreyanka collected her career-best figures of 4-13 in just 3.3 overs. 

With the bat, Mandhana and Sophie Divine started steadily by scoring a partnership of 49 runs for the opening wicket, laying a strong foundation for the win. Shikha bowled well, conceding just 11 runs in her 4 overs, with a crucial wicket of Sophie Divine. This was the only time when RCB felt a little nervous in the match, as skipper Smriti Madhana gave her wicket to Mani while trying to hit the ball out of the park. 

However, the orange cap holder Ellysee Perry and Richa Ghosh kept their nerves and sealed the RCB’s final win with three remaining balls. 

WPL 2024: All Awards List 

Here is the list of all the awards distributed at the final ceremony of WPL 2024.

What Makes This Win So Special? 

Royal Challengers Bangalore is one of the most loved teams in both IPL and WPL tournaments. Since the first season of the IPL in 2008, Virat Kohli and RCB have been trying to grab their hands on the trophy, but unfortunately, they have never won a single IPL trophy in these 16 years. Although they had some close encounters and reached the finals three times, they never won the title. 

In 2009, RCB lost the final to Deccan Chargers. Similarly, in 2011, RCB lost the final to Chennai Super Kings.  In 2016, RCB was the top favourite to win the title, with Captain Kohli scoring over 900 runs, including 4 centuries in the tournament. But to their bad luck, they again lost the final, and this time to Sunrisers Hyderabad.

But in 2024, RCB had some other plans. They put an end to the 16-year-old drought by bringing the Trophy home for the first time in Royal Challengers Bangalore’s history. With this win, RCB’s hopes are even higher as we gear up for the IPL men’s 2024, which starts on 22 March. 

People are already cheering for Men’s RCB as everybody wants them to double the title by winning IPL Men’s 2024. The famous slogan is again redefined by the RCB women, from “EE SALA CUP NAMDE” to “EE Sala Cup Namdu.”

The cricket fraternity, including some big names such as Virat Kohli, congratulated RCB womens by putting a story on his Instagram handle with the caption, “Superwomen”. Chris Gayle and Anil Kumble also showered their love for the RCB women with the hope that the IPL men’s 2024 trophy is coming to home “Bangalore” this year.