Former Royal Challengers Banglore (RCB) captain Virat Kohli delivered a heart-melting motivational speech to the RCB women's team which has endured a rough start to the inaugural edition of the Women's Premier League (WPL). In a just over eight-minute video posted on RCB's official Twitter handle, Kohli can be heard motivating the women's team by narrating stories from his personal experience with the RCB franchise in the Indian Premier League. RCB women's team players and support staff listened to every word Kohli said with immense concentration.
“I’ve been playing IPL for 15 years. And I haven’t won it yet,” Kohli said in the video shared by RCB.
"But that doesn’t stop me from being excited every year. That’s all I can do. That’s the effort I can put into every game and every tournament that I play. If we win, great. If we don’t, then I am not going to go to my grave thinking that if only I had won an IPL, I would be a happy man. It doesn’t happen like that.
So always think about the opportunity that you have rather than how bad it is right now. There is always a flip side to it, and it could always be worse than this. And the fact that we haven’t won the IPL, but I still feel that we have the best fans in the world. Only because we were always committed to every game that we played for RCB. That has been the most special thing for our fans. There’s no guarantee of giving you a cup every year, but there’s a guarantee of giving your 110% every year, and that’s all you can strive to do," the former India captain added.
Watch the video here:
Meanwhile, RCB women's team finally opened their account in the 2023 WPL on March 15 (Wednesday) after losing their first five matches of the competition. Smriti Mandhana's side defeated UP Warriorz by five wickets Dr DY Patil Sports Academy in Navi Mumbai. Kohli spoke to the players before the game between RCB and UPW and it seems like the motivational speech delivered by the Indian superstar did the trick.
With a below-par total of 136 runs to chase down, uncapped batter Kanika Ahuja was the star of the show with her 30-ball 46-run knock. It was Ellyse Perry's show with the ball in the first innings, with the Australian all-rounder bagging a three-wicket haul. Perry returned with figures of 3/16 in four overs and was ably supported by the likes of Sophie Devine, who bagged two wickets. Sobhana Asha and Megan Schutt also bagged a wicket each.
RCB are still not mathematically out from the race of playoffs. There is still a glimmer of hope for Mandhana's side but a couple of results have to go in their favour. After their win on Wednesday, RCB moved to the fourth place on the points table.
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