The Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) won the 2024 Women's Premier League (WPL) title by defeating Delhi Capitals (DC) by eight wickets in the final on March 17 (Sunday). While RCB managed to win the trophy in just their first final, it was heartbreak for DC once again as they stumbled in the summit clash, just like the previous season. RCB reigned supreme at Delhi's home ground and secured the silverware to end a 16-year title drought of their loyal fanbase.
WPL 2024: Prize money
Royal Challengers Bangalore took home a paycheck of Rs 6 crore for winning the tournament, while the Delhi Capitals pocketed Rs 3 crore for finishing runners-up. Meanwhile, RCB superstar all-rounder Ellyse Perry took a Rs 5 lakh cheque for finishing the tournament as the leading run-scorer and bagging the Orange Cap.
What happened in the WPL Final?
Delhi Capitals won the toss and elected to bat first. Shafali Verma (44 runs off 27 balls) came out all guns blazing and took the team off to a fabulous start. At one stage, DC were motoring along nicely with Shafali displaying her destructive stroke-making ability. But the match changed on its head and the momentum completely shifted when Sophie Molineux came to bowl the eighth over.
From 64/0 to 64/3, Delhi Capitals were rocked in the space of three balls. From there on, it was all RCB as they cashed in on the momentum and tightened their grip on the match. DC's middle order and the lower order displayed no resistance and RCB managed to bundle out the home team for just 113 runs in 18.3 overs.
Sophie Molineux bagged three wickets in her spell of four overs and conceded just 20 runs. Shreyanka Patil was stupendous with the ball as she picked four wickets for just 12 runs.
RCB survive in tricky run chase
Captain Smriti Mandhana started slowly as Sophie Devine took the attack to the DC bowlers. Devine scored 32 runs off 27 balls and walked back to the pavilion with RCB's score at 49/1 after 8.1 overs. Ellyse Perry joined forces with Mandhana and the duo played with extra caution, which made the match a tad bit interesting at the end.
Mandhana departed for 31 runs off 39 balls, leaving Perry and Richa Ghosh a job to do. Ghosh found her stride quickly before hitting the winning boundary that kick-started buoyant celebrations in the RCB camp. Perry remained unbeaten on 35 runs off 37 balls while Ghosh was not out on 17 runs off 14 balls.
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