NEW DELHI: Royal Challengers Bangalore skipper Smriti Mandhana revealed that she couldn’t hear a single thing during her video call conversation with India’s stalwart batter Virat Kohli but happiness was visible on his face after RCB’s triumph in the Women’s Premier League Season 2.
RCB with a clinical performance clinched an 8-wicket victory over Delhi Capitals (DC) at the Arun Jaitley Stadium to lift their maiden WPL title. After the game, Kohli joined the post-match celebrations through a video call and had a chat with skipper Mandhana as well as the rest of the team.
In the post-match press conference, Mandhana revealed that she couldn’t hear a single thing Kohli said to her and she would meet and have a conversation with him in Bangalore.
“I didn’t hear anything he was saying because it was too loud, he was like just thumbs up and I just did thumbs up, I will be meeting him. He looked happy there was a bright smile. I remember him coming last year and a little pep talk which really helped me personally as well as the whole team. He has been a part of this franchise and I think he has been there for the past 15 years so I could see that happiness on his face but because of the noise I couldn’t hear him, maybe I will chat to him when we go to Bengaluru,” Mandhana said in the post-match press conference.
RCB’s spin attack weaved magic in the first innings to nullify DC’s explosive start. Sophie Molineux spearheaded the attack but the 21-year-old off-spinner Shreyanka Patil turned out to be the game-changer for RCB. She picked up a four-wicket haul and removed the tail end within a blink of an eye to restrict DC to a sub-par total of 113.
“Shreyanka has been brilliant the first three or four matches didn’t go her way, I remember having a chat with her and she was really low about a few things and I remember telling her on March 17th that we were going to do something special and little did I know it is going to happen and she will get the purple cap but really really happy for her. She has been a really hardworking person because she has really worked hard and I feel she is the most complete player to come in the last two years in the circuit of international cricket as well,” Mandhana said while praising Shreyanka.
Coming to the final, DC won the toss and elected to bat with openers Shafali Varma (44 in 27 balls, with two fours and three sixes) and skipper Meg Lanning (23 in 23 balls, with three fours) providing the ideal start to the team with a quickfire 64-run opening stand. However, RCB bounced back to restrict them to a score of 113.
In reply, RCB comfortably chased down the target with three balls to spare and with eight wickets in hand. (ANI)