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After years of anticipation, Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) fans finally erupted in celebration as their women's side secured their first-ever title, defeating the Delhi Capitals (DC) in the WPL 2024 summit clash on Sunday, March 17.
The Smriti Mandhana-led franchise finished third on the WPL points table and trounced defending champions Mumbai Indians (MI) in the Eliminator before putting up a great show in the final.
After winning the toss, Delhi openers gave their team a rollicking start. Shafali Verma looked menacing with her 27-ball 44 as DC put up 61 runs inside the powerplay.
However, the eighth over, bowled by Sophie Molineux, completely turned the game on its head. The left-arm spinner first sent back Shafali before cleaning up Jemimah Rodrigues and Alice Capsey off consecutive deliveries. DC never really recovered from this hiccup as they lost all their ten wickets for just 49 runs.
RCB, who had a target of 114 in front of them, batted calculatedly and kept ticking away singles and doubles.
Although they lost Sophie Devine (32) and Smriti Mandhana (31) in the middle phase, Ellyse Perry kept her cool and scored a brilliant unbeaten 35. Richa Ghosh, who smashed 17* runs, hit the winning four, thus ending a 17-year-long wait for RCB fans.
The recently concluded WPL 2024 final also saw a slew of landmarks being reached. Here are three of those:
#3 Shafali Verma is now the Indian with most WPL runs
Young batting maestro Shafali Verma wasn't bogged down by the high-octane occasion and batted in her usual style on Sunday. She hammered three sixes and two fours to provide DC with a fabulous start.
She made 44 runs, which also earned her the record for becoming the Indian player with the most runs scored in the tournament's history. The 20-year-old has now accumulated 561 runs at a phenomenal strike rate of 168.47 across 18 innings for DC.
Verma has surpassed Indian captain Harmanpreet Kaur on the list. The Mumbai Indians skipper has 549 runs to her name, which she has scored at an average of 45.75 in 16 innings.
#2 Youngest Purple Cap winner in IPL/WPL history
Despite missing two league games due to injury, Shreyanka Patil clinched the Purple Cap for taking the most wickets in the WPL 2024. Following her match-winning 4/12 on Sunday, she ended her campaign with 13 wickets at an average of 12.07 in eight innings.
She finished ahead of her teammates Asha Sobhana and Sophie Molineux, who both took 12 wickets each in the tournament. In doing so, Patil became the youngest-ever player to win the Purple Cap in WPL or IPL history.
The RCB off-spinner is just 21 years and 231 days old. She has surpassed RP Singh on the list, who was 23 years and 170 days old when he won the Purple Cap in IPL 2009 for the Deccan Chargers.
#1 First team to win an IPL/ WPL trophy, Orange Cap and Purple Cap in the same season
After years of heartbreak, Royal Challengers Bangalore finally have a trophy to its name. They ended their drought in dominant fashion by not only lifting the title but also winning both the Orange and Purple Caps.
Ellyse Perry, who was undoubtedly one of the best players in the tournament, beat Meg Lanning (331 runs) to end up as the highest run-getter with 347 runs at an immaculate average of just under 70.
As mentioned earlier, Shreyanka Patil won the Purple Cap for her 13 wickets in the season at a wonderful strike rate of 9.92.
With this, RCB have become the first franchise in IPL or WPL history to win all the three major accolades in the same edition.
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