Smriti Mandhana forgets her teammates!! Credits this guy for RCB's motivation behind first title win

Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) women’s team’s captain Smriti Mandhana has revealed that she as well as her teammates were motivated by Virat Kohli’s pep talk last year. Mandhana recalled Virat Kohli’s pep talk after leading her team to a historic triumph in the recently concluded Women’s Premier League (WPL). RCB beat Delhi Capitals by eight wickets to win WPL 2024. Asked to bowl first, RCB bowled out Delhi for just 113 runs in the 19th over.

Meg Lanning and Shafali Verma gave Delhi a solid start by adding 64 runs for the opening wicket before the latter’s dismissal triggered an extraordinary collapse. Sophie Molineux dismissed Shafali for 44 before dismissing Jemimah Rodrigues and Alice Capsey for ducks in a space of four balls to reduce Delhi to 64 for 3.

Delhi could not recover from the setback and were eventually bowled out for a modest total of 113 runs. In reply, RCB chased down the total with three balls remaining. Mandhana (31), Sophie (32), and Ellyse Perry (35) played crucial knocks to help their team chase down the total with ease.

Speaking after the game, Mandhana revealed how Virat Kohli’s motivational words helped the team turn things around after a disastrous start in the WPL.

“I remember in last WPL season Virat bhaiya came into camp and had that pep talk with us which helped me personally a lot and also the whole team,” Smriti Mandhana said.

Smriti Mandhana said "I remember in last WPL season Virat bhaiya came into camp & had that pep talk with us which helped me personally a lot and also the whole team". [Press] pic.twitter.com/S324xOIgl2

— Johns. (@CricCrazyJohns) March 18, 2024

Virat Kohli’s motivational words for RCB women revealed by Smriti Mandhana:

Last year, RCB were having a tough time in the WPL. They finished at the fourth spot in the five-team competition after managing to win just two of their eight league games. The Smriti Mandhana-led side disastrously started the tournament as they lost their opening five games.

With the team struggling to win even one game, Virat Kohli had given a motivational speech to the players. After RCB lost their fifth straight game in WPL 2023, the batting superstar shared his own experience with Mandhana and her teammates and motivated them to bounce back.

“I’ve been playing IPL for 15 years, and I haven’t won it yet. 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,” he had said.

“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,” he had added.

Kohli’s words did make a big difference as RCB went on to win two of their last three games and respectably finished the tournament.