RCB adds another feather in their cap after WPL title win; beat Mumbai Indians to achieve a massive feat

The Royal Challengers Bangalore have become the most followed team on the social media platform Instagram after the Women’s team lifted the WPL season 2 trophy last night. RCB, led by Smriti Mandhana, defeated the Delhi Capitals in the final by 8 wickets at the iconic Arun Jaitley stadium at the National capital. It was the first-ever Premier League trophy for the South Indian outfit which had to wait for 17 years to claim silverware.

Right after their one-sided win against Meg Lanning’s side, RCB became the 2nd most followed team in the Indian franchise league system, overtaking Mumbai Indians on the way. Bangalore edged past MI by a million followers extra with the latter team having 12.6 million while the former team now has 12.7 million followers on Instagram. Above them are MS Dhoni’s Chennai Super Kings who are way ahead with 14.1 million.

Most followed team on Instagram:

1. CSK – 14.1M.
2. RCB – 12.7M.
3. MI – 12.6M.

– RCB overtook MI to become the 2nd most followed IPL franchise. 🫡🏆 pic.twitter.com/zxycibZO5G

— Mufaddal Vohra (@mufaddal_vohra) March 18, 2024

The WPL final as it went for RCB

Meg Lanning, after winning the toss, had put RCB to bat first in an Arun Jaitley stadium track which was favorable for batting. The Delhi Capitals had got off to a strong start through the opening pair of Lanning and the explosive Shafali Verma who stitched together a partnership of 64 runs for the first wicket.

But right after the powerplay ended, Shafali Verma, who was batting at a daunting strike rate of 162, fell prey to Sophie Molineux’s deceiving delivery which landed safely in the hands of Georgia Wareham after a 27-ball 44. Then in the very same over, number 3 and 4 batter Jemimah Rodrigues and Alice Capsey lost their wickets in consecutive deliveries for a 2-ball and a golden duck.

From 64/1, DC quickly were reduced to 64/3 and after the departure of Meg Lanning for run-a-ball 23, their batting order collapsed like a house of cards. After Lanning’s lbw from Shreyanka Patil, Sobhana Asha joined the party which quickly led to the departure of Marizanne Kapp and Jess Jonassen for 8 and 3 respectively.

Then after Radha Yadav’s run-out for 12, Shreyanka cleaned up the remaining DC batting tail to end with figures of 4/12 from 3.3 overs and RCB batters received a target of 114 for the win. In response, Smriti Mandhana and Sophie Devine cautiously navigated RCB to 49 before Devine departed for 32 off Shikha Pandey.

But one wicket was enough as DC needed a flurry of wickets to put the pressure back on RCB but it took them another 6 overs to remove Mandhana from the crease. Then it was up to Ellyse Perry and Richa Ghosh to ensure the title didn’t slip and their 33-run partnership landed them their first-ever major title.

Pressure now on the Men’s team

The RCB Women’s team did something that the Men’s team hasn’t been able to do in more than 15 years. It was only the 2nd WPL season and Bangalore has already become a time winner and that indicates a commanding few seasons to come for the South Indian outfit.

Now the onus is on the Men’s team to win IPL 2024 and complete a historic double of trophies, something that has never been done before. RCB Men’s will begin their campaign in the season opener against reigning champions Chennai Super Kings on March 22nd at the MA Chidambaram stadium.