Smriti Mandhana-led Royal Challengers Bangalore registered their maiden victory in the first edition of Women Premier League against UP Warriorz at DY Patil Stadium, Navi Mumbai. With this being their first win of the tournament, RCB’s hope of finishing top 3 in the table is still alive. However, the Bangalore franchise can’t secure the first two positions therefore they have to eye on the third spot.
Indian cricket sensation and RCB former captain in IPL, Virat Kohli had a pep talk with the girls before the match and it looks like Kohli’s 15 years of experience with the franchise helped the team to get the momentum. While talking about their first win, RCB captain Smriti Mandhana said “Virat Kohli bhaiya’s advice helped us, He motivated us & talked a lot to our team”.
How to turn a Setback into a Comeback – who better to talk about this!
Extremely grateful to @imVkohli for spending time with the team and motivating them before today’s match!
Video at 9 am tomorrow! #PlayBold #ನಮ್ಮRCB #WPL2023 #UPWvRCB pic.twitter.com/wuWZkfxsAo
— Royal Challengers Bangalore (@RCBTweets) March 15, 2023
But it was not only Kohli’s talk that helped RCB to smell the victory, It was an all-round performance by the playing XI as well. Bowling first, RCB restricted UP Warriorz for 134 with Ellyse Perry bowling a tremendous spell of 3 for 16. Whereas, while chasing left-hand batter Kanika Ahuja played a match-winning knock of 46 in just 30 balls and won her first player of the match award for her virtuoso performance.
To finish at the 3rd place in the table, Bangalore not only has to win all upcoming matches but wait for other results to fall in their favour. If MI win against Gujarat Giants and DC against UP Warriorz, RCB will still have to wait for Gujarat to beat Alyssa Healy and Co. From here, it looks like an uphill battle for Smiriti and team but only time will tell how long they hold on to this thread of hope of finishing in the playoffs.
