By A remarkable turnaround orchestrated by the spinners propelled Royal Challengers Bangalore to clinch the WPL trophy in the competition’s second season, securing an eight-wicket victory over Delhi Capitals on Sunday (March 17).
Here are the reactions from RCB players in their interaction with the official broadcaster after the match:
Smriti Mandhana | RCB captain: The feeling hasn’t sunk in yet. It’s hard for me to express. One thing I’ll say is I’m proud of the team. Our Bangalore leg was excellent. We faced two tough losses in Delhi, but we spoke about stepping up at the right time. Tournaments like these are about peaking when it matters. Last year taught us a lot. Management told us, “This is your team, build it your way.” Thumbs up to them.
Ellyse Perry: It’s pretty bonkers, to be honest. The support for all the teams has been phenomenal. [On Richa Ghosh] She is unbelievable. For such a young player, she has so many shots. We felt we had to stay in the game, and it took longer than expected. [On Molineux] She turned the match around. The rest of the spinners supported her. Shreyanka is young and has the world at her feet. It was a special performance. Sophie [Devine] and Shreyanka will own the stage; they are goat dancers.
Richa Ghosh: I was nervous, but Perry calmed me down and told me to go for my shots. It felt like a long time between the Eliminator and the final, but we had prepared a lot. By God’s grace, we won. We wanted to bowl wicket-to-wicket, take a couple of wickets, and we knew we could chase the score down. You can’t relax when the target is low.
Sobhana Asha: From the first day of the camp, we believed we could do it, and we did. I don’t have many words. We were very comfortable with Luke [coach], and that helped us.
Shreyanka Patil: You can call us spin twins; we don’t mind. We worked hard and had a camp before the season. It was amazing to bond with everyone. They keep saying “Ee sala cup namde,” and we got it. It’s for the fans. Day in and day out, we put in hard work, and we manifested this win. We felt like family.
Ekta Bisht: When I was interviewed at the start of the tournament, I said RCB would end up on top. We played well in the Eliminator, which gave us confidence for the final. The feeling in the unit was positive.
Georgia Wareham: The way Smriti was going about it, Soph [Molineux] did an unbelievable job. It’s been unbelievable to see players like Shreyanka and Asha improve every game.
Sophie Devine: It’s still sinking in, but I’m stoked for the whole group. Smriti was outstanding, and having Ellyse Perry in the team was brilliant. We have the best fans in the world.
Renuka Singh Thakur: It’s a goosebumps moment. The entire RCB fan base supported us. We wanted to play simple cricket and not put too much pressure on ourselves. We just needed one wicket to get back into the contest.
