Royal Challengers Bangalore players pose for picture with trophy during the final of the Women’s Premier League 2024 between Delhi Capitals and Royal Challengers Bangalore held at the Arun Jaitley Stadium, New Delhi on the 17th March 2024. (Sportzpics)With the 2025 Women’s Premier League (WPL) season wrapping up with Mumbai clinching the crown for the second time, defending champions Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) couldn’t defend their crown, failing to even reach the play-offs this time around. But last year, the Smriti Mandhana-led side had created history by winning the WPL trophy which ended RCB’s title draught with the men’s team failing to win the IPL title in 17 IPL seasons.
Last year on March 17, RCB had spun their way to a win against Delhi Capitals in the WPL final, ending a long wait for a fanbase that has made their voice heard loud and clear from south to north. DC could just manage 113 batting first, RCB took their time but eventually got there with three balls to spare, with Richa Ghosh hitting the winning runs, and fittingly, Ellyse Perry remaining unbeaten on 35.
With Lanning and Marizanne Kapp still around, DC hoped for a fighting total. Given that 130-odd was defended a couple of nights ago at the venue, DC could hope. Shreyanka Patil, then, stepped up to the plate. In her second over, for the second consecutive match against Delhi, the RCB spinner got rid of Lanning. It was a blow from which DC never recovered.
#OnThisDay, March 17, 2024! 🗓
The moment 'ROYAL CHALLENGERS BENGALURU' was engraved on the WPL trophy for the first time, and our Queens lifted it, loudly and proudly! 🏆🥹#PlayBold #ನಮ್ಮRCB #SheIsBold
pic.twitter.com/BsF9ygVThZ— Royal Challengers Bengaluru (@RCBTweets) March 17, 2025
The chase of 114 always felt like a matter of when and not if, and that was because RCB’s spinners brought their A-Game once again. When RCB pulled off a heist against Mumbai Indians in the semifinal, it was Shreyanka Patil, Sophie Molineux and Asha Sobhana who bowled the three crunch overs in the end. Those three would go on to share 9 wickets between them in a match-winning display of slow bowling.
Mandhana, RCB’s first-title winning captain said after the match, “Our Bangalore leg was really good. We had two tough losses here. And then that is what we talked about. The last league match was like a quarterfinal for us, then a semifinal and now the final. In such tournaments, you have to peak at the right time, so we saved our best for the last.”
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