'Ee saala cup namde' - England's Alex Hartley backing RCB to win IPL 2021

The second leg of the Indian Premier League (IPL) is set to commence on September 19. The last 31 matches of the tournament will be played in the UAE across three venues – Abu Dhabi, Dubai and Sharjah. Almost all the eight teams have finalised their squads with replacement players and have also reached the UAE to their respective bases like they did the last year.

Matches in the IPL will also give a huge practice for the players featuring in the T20 World Cup which is scheduled to get underway soon after the T20 league in the Oman and the UAE. With their favourite IPL teams set to take the field soon, the loyalties are also starting to change among the fans as it is not country vs country in the IPL.

England’s Alex Hartley is one of them as she is a wholehearted supporter of the Virat Kohli-led Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB). Earlier this year, she tweeted for the Men in Red ahead of one of their matches wearing the RCB jersey as well and is also a huge Kohli fan.

Waiting for IPL’s return, says Hartley

On Friday, one of the fans asked Alex Hartley about not tweeting about RCB for a while now. The cricketer, however, was quick to respond stating that she is waiting for the IPL to resume. In her tweet, she also wrote the famous RCB slogan, ” Ee saala cup namde (This year cup is ours),” backing Virat Kohli and his men to win the tournament.

Here’s her tweet:

Just been waiting for the return of the IPL 😍 @RCBTweets

Ee sala Cup namde ❤️ https://t.co/X9zDeB0dXW

— Alexandra Hartley (@AlexHartley93) September 3, 2021

Meanwhile, RCB is one of the most affected teams due to the overseas players pulling out of the league. The franchise has roped in Wanindu Hasaranga, George Garton, Tim David and Dushmantha Chameera as replacements who could be decent picks in the shortest format of the game. The team will resume their campaign with the game against Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) on September 20. RCB are currently at the third place with five wins from seven matches.