This is the start of something cool for the RCB franchise: Smriti Mandhana

The Royal Challengers Bangalore lifted the WPL 2024 trophy with an eight-wicket win over the Delhi Capitals, at the Arun Jaitley Stadium in New Delhi on Sunday. The Bangalore bowlers restricted Delhi to 113 runs and chased the target down with three balls to spare. For Bangalore, Shreyanka Patil picked up four wickets while Player of the Match Sophie Molineux picked up three wickets. Richa Ghosh (17 runs), Ellyse Perry (35 runs), and captain Smriti Mandhana (31 runs) spoke exclusively to JioCinema and Sports18 on ‘Match Centre Live’.

Smriti Mandhana spoke exclusively to JioCinema and Sports18 about what this win means for RCB as a franchise: "I said it in the last press conference that we won't take the unnecessary pressure for the last 15 seasons of RCB. This was our (WPL) second season. We wanted to play good cricket, but sometimes franchises get linked. It's not that RCB hasn't reached the finals before, they've been finalists thrice and have played amazing cricket, but unfortunately, they weren't able to lift the trophy. Not only the women, but this is the start of something cool for the franchise as a whole because the management deserves this."

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Ellyse Perry on RCB's belief that they would win: "The bowling in the back end of the tournament has been exceptional, and a lot of that is just staying nice and calm, holding your nerve when big moments come along. We have got some of the best spinners in the world in our team who have contributed. Crucially, it's been Shreyanka and Asha as local Indian players and we had the overseas players to complement that. I think that makes our spin quartet and then the pacers have chipped in at different times.”

Richa Ghosh on overcoming the disappointment of a one-run loss to Delhi Capitals, earlier this season - "Last time, we fell short by one run. I wanted to finish that game but was unable to. Today's match, I wanted to finish it and that's what I had planned on doing... I learned a lot. I learned how to finish games after that loss to Delhi. Today, I got to execute and did not want it to go to the end."

Also Read: ‘Smriti has led the group brilliantly’ - Ellyse Perry lauds Mandhana’s leadership following WPL playoffs qualification