RCB star’s tongue-in-cheek statement following his WPL victory was “glad to win it before the boys”

While Royal Challengers Bangalore men’s team hasn’t won the IPL in sixteen attempts, the women’s team won the WPL title in their second attempt.

The Royal Challengers Bangalore men’s team has not won a trophy in 16 years in the Indian Premier League, however the franchise’s women’s squad has won in only their second season of the Women’s Premier League. The Smriti Mandhana-led team defeated Delhi Capitals in the final on Sunday to claim the elusive trophy. Fans were obviously thrilled to see the franchise win a trophy. Sophie Devine, RCB’s New Zealand star, was also pleased because the girls won the title before the boys.In an interview after the final in New Delhi, Devine said: “Glad to win the trophy before the boys.”(laughs).

Aside from Chris Gayle, Faf du Plessis, Glenn Maxwell, and Yuzvendra Chahal, other cricketers congratulated RCB on their historic win.

In terms of the game, the Delhi Capitals chose to bat first after winning the toss. The squad got off to a great start with a quickfire 64-run opening stand between openers Shafali Varma (44 in 27 balls, with two fours and three sixes) and captain Meg Lanning (23 in 23 balls, with three fours).

But shortly after the powerplay, Shreyanka Patil (4/12), Sophie Molineux (3/20), and Asha Sobhana (2/14) enabled RCB to recover and dismiss Delhi hitters one by one, setting off an unbelievable batting collapse. In 18.3 overs, DC was all out for 113 runs.

RCB put on a 49-run opening partnership in the chase of 114, led by Sophie Devine (32 in 27 balls, with five fours and a six). Delhi bowlers, however, put RCB to the test in the middle overs, and captain Smriti Mandhana (31 in 39 balls, three fours) left at a critical time, leaving RCB at 82/2 in 15 overs. Nevertheless, with three balls remaining, Ellyse Perry (35* in 37 balls, with four boundaries) and Richa Ghosh (17* in 14 balls, with two fours) concluded the chase.