One of the rarest sights in cricket happened on Sunday evening when Smriti Mandhana, the RCB women’s captain, got a bigger cheer than the home captain, Meg Lanning, when RCB played Delhi Capitals in the WPL 2024 final at the Aun Jaitley Stadium in Delhi.
RCB defeated Harmanpreet Kaur’s Mumbai Indians in the Eliminator to enter the WPL 2024 final, having finished second-to-last last season.
On Sunday, even with Delhi Capitals being the home team in the final, the majority of the crowd support was with RCB. Given the RCB’s men’s team has had immense support wherever they go, the RCB women’s team, too, have got huge backing from the crowd across India.
As Smriti Mandhana walked to speak with Ravi Shastri at the toss, the packed crowd assembled at the Arun Jaitley stadium erupted with a much bigger roar than they did for the home skipper, Meg Lanning. While this is the first final for RCBW, this is the second consecutive final for Lanning’s DC Women’s side; they lost to Mumbai Indians women last year in the inaugural season finale.\
Ravi Shastri was left shocked with a huge cheer for Smriti Mandhana, the away skipper. Shastri said, “I know this is Delhi but it seems like Bangalore” This brought a smile on Mandhana’s face.
Watch: Ravi Shastri Shocked By Reception For Smriti Mandhana In Delhi In WPL Final
![[Watch] 'Seems Like Bangalore': Ravi Shastri Shocked By Reception For Smriti Mandhana In Delhi In WPL Final](https://thecricketlounge.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/03/shardul-2024-03-17T205651.202.webp)
Ravi shastri to Smriti mandhana when the Crowd gone crazy :
“I know this is Delhi but it seems like Bengaluru” #RCB craze 🔥🔥#RCBUnbox #RCBvDC pic.twitter.com/h4FZ2cOSgY— Ramith K S (@ramithks) March 17, 2024
Lanning won the toss and elected to bat first. Mandhana said she would have liked to bat first as well.
Mandhana said, “We would have batted first as well, but I think it doesn’t really go well, we will have to bowl well, stick to our plans and play some good cricket. We’ve had a lot of ups and downs so far, but we need to be at our best tonight. This is the 4th match on the same wicket, the last game, it played slow. We’ve one change – Meghana comes in for Disha Karat”
Teams:
Royal Challengers Bangalore Women (Playing XI): Smriti Mandhana(c), Sophie Devine, Sabbhineni Meghana, Ellyse Perry, Richa Ghosh(w), Sophie Molineux, Georgia Wareham, Disha Kasat, Shreyanka Patil, Asha Sobhana, Renuka Thakur Singh
Delhi Capitals Women (Playing XI): Meg Lanning(c), Shafali Verma, Alice Capsey, Jemimah Rodrigues, Marizanne Kapp, Jess Jonassen, Radha Yadav, Arundhati Reddy, Taniya Bhatia(w), Shikha Pandey, Minnu Mani
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