🏏WPL 2024:Final- Delhi Capitals W VS Royal Challengers W, Delhi🏏

• 🏏WPL 2024:Final-Delhi Capitals W VS Royal Challengers W, Delhi🏏
  

WPL Final

Unlimited action across two cities, multiple nail-biting affairs and craziness are all-around – the four weeks of Women’s Premier League (WPL) 2024 was no short of entertainment. Now, it’s time to brace ourselves for the final showdown. 

The stage is set in Delhi and by the end of the day where Meg Lanning’s Delhi Capitals (DC) and Smriti Mandhana-led Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) will battle against each other!

Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) have peaked at the right time in the Women’s Premier League (WPL) 2024. Once in danger of getting knocked out of the competition, RCB is one win away from lifting the title. 

Back-to-back wins against defending champions Mumbai Indians (MI) would have done their confidence a world of good.

However, going into the final against Delhi Capitals (DC), the odds are not in RCB’s favour by any means. Smriti Mandhana is yet to outsmart the legendary Meg Lanning as the Capitals have a 4-0 win-loss record over the Bengaluru-based team.

But going into the final, RCB can draw inspiration from how they turned their fortunes around against MI. Prior to their do-or-die league game at the Arun Jaitley Stadium, the Challengers had a 0-3 record against Harmanpreet Kaur’s team.

But then, Ellyse Perry, Shreyanka and others upped the ante and ousted MI out of the competition. In the Eliminator, RCB defended 135 runs, making a comeback with their backs against the walls.

DC’s Lanning has mastered the art of winning finals, having led Australia to 5 ICC titles. Mandhana, on the other hand, is learning the tricks of leadership and needs to be on top of her game TODAY. 

Head-to-Head

Played – 4 | Delhi Capitals – 4 | Royal Challengers Bangalore – 0

Previous Results

Delhi Capitals beat Royal Challengers Bangalore by 60 runs, Brabourne Stadium, Mumbai, 2023

Delhi Capitals beat Royal Challengers Bangalore by 6 wickets, Dr DY Patil Sports Academy, Navi Mumbai, 2023

Delhi Capitals beat Royal Challengers Bangalore by 25 runs, M Chinnaswamy Stadium, Bangalore, 2024

Delhi Capitals beat Royal Challengers Bangalore by 1 run, Arun Jaitley Stadium, New Delhi, 2024

Probable Playing XI

Delhi Capitals

Meg Lanning (c), Shafali Verma, Jemimah Rodrigues, Alice Capsey, Marizanne Kapp, Jess Jonassen, Radha Yadav, Arundhati Reddy, Taniya Bhatia (wk), Shikha Pandey, Titas Sadhu

Royal Challengers Bangalore

Smriti Mandhana (c), Sophie Devine, Sophie Molineux, Ellyse Perry, Richa Ghosh (wk), Georgia Wareham, Sabbhineni Meghana, Shreyanka Patil, Asha Sobhana, Shraddha Pokharkar, Renuka Thakur Singh

DC have been the most successful side of the season, making a direct entry into the finals as the table toppers. They won 6 out of their 8 games and lost just 2, each to Mumbai Indians and UP Warriorz, in the league stage. 

In fact, it will be their second consecutive final appearance since the commencement of the league.

On the other hand, RCB has fought its way to the final. Their journey this season was no less than a roller-coaster ride. They kicked off their campaign with back-to-back victories, which suddenly derailed before they moved to the national capital. 

A 1-run defeat put them on the knife edge, but Perry’s historic bowling spell against MI sailed them safely to the playoffs, where they outsmarted the defending champions yet again to knock them out.

Team News – Delhi Capitals

The DC camp is calm and chill ahead of the big finale, that’s what Lanning said at the captain’s press meet on Saturday. It’s a side which knows the temperament of big match-ups and performance-wise, they have been the hot favourites of the tournament. As many as four DC batters are among the top scorers of the tournament. Skipper Lanning is on fire and so are Shafali Verma, Jemimah Rodrigues and Marizanne Kapp.

The bowlers have been equally impressive this season as three of them are among the top-five wicket-takers of the season. Kapp leads the charts with 11 scalps in 6 games, followed by Jess Jonassen (11) and Radha Yadav (10).

“We’ve had a good mix of enjoying each other’s company off the field, having a really good dinner the other night with a bit of fun, and then some training as well the last couple of days. So that’s the prep that we’ve gone with throughout the whole tournament, sort of letting individuals go about their business as they need to. And we feel like we’re in a really good space heading into tomorrow,” Lanning said.

DC will start as favorites, having never lost to RCB in their four meetings. However, the WPL has been all about tense finishes and tables turning unexpectedly. Given the match winners RCB have at their disposal, DC would make calculative moves in the big finale.

“We’ve seen throughout the tournament that there’s been some crazy cricket, some crazy finishes. So I’m expecting nothing less tomorrow. 

And we’re coming up against RCB who have played some excellent cricket. They’ve got match-winners, and they’ve shown that they’re able to play some great cricket when they’re under the pump. So what a great challenge for our group to go out there and have to take them on. And I’ve got full confidence that we’ll be able to deliver when we need to,” Lanning said.

Team News: RCB

Reflecting upon the ups and downs RCB have gone through, it’s been a chronicle of great success. But the 1-run defeat against Delhi in their previous encounter had probably jolted them to the core. They bounced back effectively to blow away MI, denying them a chance to defend their title.

The gut-wrenching loss seems to have unearthed the Ellyse Perry we all know. A six-wicket haul to register the best-ever WPL bowling figures and then a pride-saving fifty in the Eliminator has certainly made her the player to watch out for in the finale.

Keeper-batter Richa Ghosh has been equally good with the bat as she has stepped up time and again to team up with Perry and rescue the side whenever the top order perishes early.

The focus will largely be on the young spin duo of Shreyanka Patil and Asha Sobhana who have been the pillars of RCB’s strength. The tensed Eliminator was proof of how they can turn the game their way if dealt with patience and perseverance.

“I think the bowler started bowling and we stood up and we got those pushy wickets, definitely the emotions kicked in, but I think whatever was there, I think the whole group was really calm,” Mandhana said in the context of the Eliminator.

While RCB’s men have not won an IPL trophy in the last 14 years, the women have a chance to script history. But far from drawing any parallels, the unit looks to remain focused instead of putting themselves under any added pressure.

“We just were thinking that we’re two seasons into it. Let’s not put so much stress on what happened over the last 15 years. So I'm not really correlating anything with what happened with the men’s. The last 25 days have always been spent enjoying each other’s company, being really focused on the process, and training well. So I think it doesn’t change anything,” Mandhana said.

And then there were two: the home team and the team that's seen unbridled support like every venue is their home. Meg Lanning knows Royal Challengers Bangalore will have sizeable representation in Delhi's sold-out Feroze Shah Kotla when they clash in the WPL 2024 final. Smriti Mandhana is cognizant of the fact that it's a borrowed fanbase, and that her team will have to earn their dues come Sunday (March 17).

Delhi Capitals are direct finalists for the second year running with a point to prove. Lanning isn't exactly used to losing trophies, albeit also yet to win one in the franchise cricket circuit. Despite being the most consistent performers, they ended up as silver-medalists in 2023 to Hamranpreet Kaur's Mumbai Indians - an opponent RCB has seen off in the Eliminator this season.

DC have been rewarded for showing continuity and stability in their XI, making it to the finals with a game to spare despite two heart-breaking losses in the round-robin stages. On the opening night, they were at the receiving end of a nerveless S Sajana's last-ball six that cost them two points in Bengaluru, and over in Delhi, they fluffed a well-set chase by the barest of margins to briefly give UP Warriorz a faint hope of sneaking in to the playoffs. But, just like last year, DC's last league game was reduced to a mere formality with bare minimum required to stamp the already established - a direct seat in the title showdown.

The Capitals have been well served by an in-form opening pair that's head and shoulders above their peers across the two seasons, a Jemimah Rodrigues 2.0, a smiling assassin with the new ball in Marizanne Kapp and an ultimate fighter in Jess Jonassen who has channelled the energies after a national setback to make a strong statement. If there's only one area to nit-pick, it's probably the underexposed lower-middle order. And RCB has shown two games in a row how big of a crack it can prove to be.

Big enough for them to sneak into their maiden final, at the expense of the defending champions. Credit where it's due to the RCB spin troika of Shreyanka Patil, Sophie Molineux and Asha Sobhana for holding their nerve to collectively defend just 20 off 18 as Mumbai made a hash of the 135-run chase after losing their set captain in death overs. 

However, Ellyse Perry has probably had a bigger, all-round hand in digging the team out of the hole in two successive games, incidentally both against MI, and giving them the sniff.

While they haven't really been as consistent on field as their final opponents, RCB have proven they can upset the apple cart on their day. After a dismal inaugural year, and after being nearly written off even before the start of this season, they have redeemed themselves with different contributors stepping up in clutch situations to help the team bounce back from every challenge thrown at them. After a tough initiation to full-time leadership, Mandhana has also come back strongly to lead from the front, briefly grabbing the Orange Cap, and even with her inspired bowling changes. Her calmness has rubbed off on the team as well, as acknowledged by various people from the RCB camp. The final hurdle, though, will bring pressures unknown: an area where her counterpart may have an ever so slight edge despite labelling it a contest of evens.

The Capitals and RCB have both endured their contrasting journeys to this finale. The two franchises have previously only finished as bridesmaids even in the men's equivalent. A new champion will be crowned on today. Will it be the hosts or the crowd favourites; only time will tell

What to expect: Even boundary sizes courtesy the centre pitch that promises plenty of runs to those who apply themselves. Perry added weight to the importance of putting runs on the board in a big game, even though RCB's powerplay had Mandhana contemplating otherwise. Dew hasn't been much of a hindrance and therefore batting first would likely be the captain's choice at toss.