Smriti Mandhana and Georgia Voll scripted a 165-run stand to steer RCB towards their second title.
It is unbelievable what belief can do in sport. The Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) clinched their second Women’s Premier League (WPL) title with a victory against the Delhi Capitals (DC), and skipper Smriti Mandhana was at the centre of it all.
Mandhana played a sumptuous knock of a 41-ball 87, and stitched a 165-run stand with Georgia Voll, which got the Women in Red & Gold towards their second title in four years. The partnership between the skipper and Voll came at a crucial juncture, after the team had lost their first wickets for a mere nine on the board.
That being said, Smriti Mandhana later revealed that she was expecting Voll do play a match-defining knock in the Final of the tournament – which she did, and how! The Australian batter scored a brilliant 54-ball 79 to clinch the 204-run chase for RCB.
“Voll led the way. She had almost all the strike in the powerplay and her intent was spot on. I had a feeling she would get a match winning knock in the final. She has been practicing a little extra in the past few days. Happy that it paid off for her,” said Mandhana in the post-match presentation.
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The most important thing which stood out for the two-time WPL champions would be the fact that players stood up for the team at crucial junctures of the tournament. The team started their campaign with a jittery win against the Mumbai Indians (MI), but soon found their mojo.
There was always a spec of doubt, so as to whether RCB have fielded a batter short. However, someone or the other from the batting line-up always took responsibility on their shoulders to get the job done. To add more to that, Lauren Bell was amazing with the new ball in hand, and broke partnerships with absolute ease.
RCB had a different player of the match for almost every game of the campaign – which speaks volumes of the team not being dependent on just a few players. The fact that the team could clinch the title without the services of Ellyse Perry would be extremely special, considering the quality she possesses.
“We definitely did think it was a good surface to bat on. But 200-plus is a good score in a final. In last few overs, we bowled well. Credit to Bell – 400 in a match and she goes for 20 odd runs,” said Mandhana after the game.
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