After clinching a maiden WPL title on Sunday, Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) off-spinner Shreyanka Patil dedicated the win to the fans.
An all-round Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) led by yet another solid knock by Ellyse Perry and brilliant bowling spells from spinners Shreyanka Patil and Sophie Molineux captured their first-ever Women's Premier League (WPL) title after defeating Delhi Capitals by eight wickets in the title clash at Arun Jaitley Stadium on Sunday.
Shreyanka secured the Purple Cap for most wickets by a player in the tournament after her exploits. She has 13 wickets in eight games at an average of 12.07, with the best bowling figures of 4/12. The youngster won the Emerging Player of the Season as well for her brilliant performance throughout the tournament.
The 21-year-old asserted that our team really worked hard for the title this season. She further spoke about the team bonding activities.
"You can call us like that, we don't mind. We did really work hard, we did have a camp before we played the season. It was amazing to get in touch with everyone and we had amazing team bonding sessions, some drama, some dance and some laughter. They keep saying "Ee Sala Cup Namde" and we got it. That's it guys, it is for the fans," Shreyanka said after clinching the maiden WPL title.
Shreyanka further stated that our team wanted to win the final as the team wanted to show the fans that we can do it as well.
"Day in and day out we put in our hard work and we manifested, we wanted to win this game and show the fans we can do it. We felt like family, we did not know Luke much, last game we won against Mumbai, he had tears, and we are looking forward to continuing this. We are not going to leave them, they have to dance," the off-spinner added.
Coming to the match, DC won the toss and elected to bat first. Openers Shafali Varma (44 in 27 balls, with two fours and three sixes) and skipper Meg Lanning (23 in 23 balls, with three fours) started really well for the team with a quickfire 64-run opening stand.
However, Shreyanka Patil (4/12), Sophie Molineux (3/20) and Asha Sobhana (2/14) helped RCB bounce back just after the powerplay and removed Delhi batters one-by-one, triggering an unfathomable batting collapse. DC was all out for 113 in 18.3 overs.
In the chase of 114, RCB put on a 49-run opening stand, powered by Sophie Devine (32 in 27 balls, with five fours and a six). However, RCB was tested by Delhi bowlers in middle overs and skipper Smriti Mandhana (31 in 39 balls, with three fours) departed at a crucial juncture to leave RCB at 82/2 in 15 overs. However, Ellyse Perry (35* in 37 balls, with four boundaries) and Richa
Ghosh (17* in 14 balls, with two fours) finished the chase with three balls left. Minnu Mani and Shikha Pandey took a wicket each for DC.
(ANI)