Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) skipper Smriti Mandhana has said the Women's Premier League (WPL) title win is the start of something for the franchise as the men's team prepare for the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2024.

RCB ended their wait for a title after they lifted the TATA WPL 2024 trophy with an 8-wicket win over the Delhi Capitals at the Arun Jaitley Stadium in New Delhi on Sunday (March 17). The Bangalore bowlers restricted Delhi to 113 runs and chased the target down with three balls to spare.   For Bangalore, Shreyanka Patil picked up four wickets while Player of the Match Sophie Molineux picked up three wickets. Richa Ghosh (17* runs), Ellyse Perry (35* runs), and captain Smriti Mandhana (31 runs) spoke exclusively to JioCinema and Sports18 on 'Match Centre Live'. Following the final, captain Smriti spoke about what the win meant for RCB as a franchise and said this is just the start of something cool for the franchise which has waited for 16 years to win the first title. "I said it in the last press conference that we won't take the unnecessary pressure for the last 15 seasons of RCB. This was our (WPL) second season. We wanted to play good cricket, but sometimes franchises get linked," Mandhana said on JioCinema "It's not that RCB hasn't reached the finals before, they've been finalists thrice and have played amazing cricket, but unfortunately, they weren't able to lift the trophy. Not only the women, but this is the start of something cool for the franchise as a whole because the management deserves this." All-rounder Ellyse Perry, meanwhile, opened up on RCB's belief that they would win, praising the bowling effort in the last few matches of the season, including the eliminator and final, where the spin quartet played a key role. "The bowling in the back end of the tournament has been exceptional, and a lot of that is just staying nice and calm, holding your nerve when big moments come along. We have got some of the best spinners in the world in our team who have contributed," Perry said on JioCinema. "Crucially, it's been Shreyanka and Asha as local Indian players and we had the overseas players to complement that. I think that makes our spin quartet and then the pacers have chipped in at different times." Wicketkkeeper-batter Richa Ghosh, who scored the winning runs in the title clash. revealed how she planned to finish the innings using the disappointment of a one-run loss to Delhi Capitals, earlier in the season. "Last time, we fell short by one run. I wanted to finish that game but was unable to. Today's match, I wanted to finish it and that's what I had planned on doing... I learned a lot. I learned how to finish games after that loss to Delhi. Today, I got to execute and did not want it to go to the end." Mykhel Staff Mykhel source: mykhel.com