“Bring the trophy home” – AB de Villiers wishes RCBW ahead of WPL 2024 final

Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) legend AB de Villiers has wished the Smriti Mandhana-led side ahead of the Women’s Premier League (WPL) 2024 final at Arun Jaitley Stadium in Delhi on Sunday, March 17.

The Bengaluru-based franchise has made a brilliant turnaround after failing to qualify for the knockouts last season. They beat defending champions Mumbai Indians Women (MIW) by five runs in a last-ball thriller to qualify for the final.

RCBW will now face Meg Lanning’s Delhi Capitals Women (DCW) in the summit clash. DCW had finished atop the points table with six wins in eight games to qualify for the final.

AB de Villiers, who is also RCB men’s team mentor, took to X (formerly Twitter) ahead of the highly anticipated clash and wished luck to the Mandhana-led side. He said:

“Women’s Premier League finals today promises to be an outstanding clash between two powerhouse teams. The two stand-out teams of this tournament. The Delhi Capitals Women’s team and Royal Challengers Bangalore Women’s team will be facing off in an action-packed final today."

The 40-year-old continued:

“I absolutely cannot wait to watch the action unfold. Congratulations to both teams for making the finals, well deserved, and stand-out performances throughout the tournament individually and as a team."

He added:

“A special shoutout to team RCB. All the very best to you all! Bring the trophy home and also give the men’s [team] some motivation for later on this month when the IPL starts. All the very best guys, I’ll be watching every ball.”

“It brings a lot of pressure” – Smriti Mandhana on co-relation with RCB men’s team ahead of WPL 2024 final

Smriti Mandhana wants RCBW to avoid any co-relation with the men’s team after emulating the men’s team by finishing last and qualifying for final in the first two seasons, respectively. The 27-year-old wants RCBW to create its own legacy.

Mandhana said in the pre-match press conference (via the Indian Express):

“It was very important for us to not connect anything with the men’s side because it brings a lot of pressure with it. The idea was to focus on what was happening now and not on the 15 years gone by with the men’s side. So, we’re not really correlating anything that’s happened with the men.”

On the other hand, the Meg Lanning-led side will be looking to win their first title after finishing as the runners-up last season.