The stars behind Royal Challengers Bangalore's WPL triumph

Cricket is a team sport. In a tournament as big as the Women's Premier League, unless the entire team steps up, it is nearly impossible to achieve success.

Royal Challengers Bangalore, who finished with just two wins in the inaugural edition of the WPL last year, has become champion this year playing as an all-round team.

While it is very important to not dismiss the collective effort of the team, some players have stood out more than others by helping RCB clinch the title. Here we will look at such stars without whom this triumph would not have been possible.

Richa Ghosh

The wicket-keeper batter was sublime throughout the season for RCB with the bat but was even more impressive behind the stumps. She amassed a total of 257 runs in 9 innings with an average of 42.83.

Although she was on the wrong side of the story in RCB's painful one-run defeat to DC where Richa made 51 from just 29 with four boundaries and three sixes, she ensured she got RCB over the line in the final and hit the winning runs as well.

Her wicket-keeping was also excellent. Brilliant catches, sharp stumpings, adjusting the field to ensure the fielders are placed correctly, she did it all. At just 20, she has a bright future ahead of her both with RCB and India.

Smriti Mandhana

The ever-so-stylish left-hander did not only have the responsibility of ensuring RCB got good starts with the bat, but she also had to deal with the huge pressure of being the captain of a franchise that has a massive fanbase.

Stepping into such big shoes, she dealt with all of that as smoothly as she times a cricket ball over the fence. Her leadership was outstanding right throughout the series.

Her graceful attitude rubbed off on the players and the atmosphere in the dressing room was very chilled and healthy, which enabled the players to be level-headed even during pressure situations.

"Smriti was outstanding, she was calm and learned on the go," remarked fellow teammate Sophie Devine after the victory.

She also scored 300 runs this year, including a very responsible 31 in the final that laid the platform for RCB's chase and finished as the 4th highest run-getter of the tournament but it is her captaincy that caught everyone's eyes.

The spin-trio of Sophie, Asha and Shreyanka

MS Dhoni used to talk a lot about combinations and if there ever was an outstanding spin trio that complimented one another so well, it is these three.

Sophie Molineux, Shreyanka Patil, and Asha Shobana wreaked havoc in the WPL final picking up nine of the ten available wickets, and they pretty much wrapped up the final in the first innings.

Even in the eliminator, when MI needed just 20 from the final three overs, it was the trio who stepped up and won the game for RCB, conceding just 14 runs in the final three overs and picking up key wickets in Kaur and Sajana.

Their importance can be summed up with just one fact: Shreyanka, Asha, and Sophie are the top three wicket-takers in the 2024 WPL, with Shreyanka claiming 13 scalps and Asha and Sophie sharing 12 scalps each.

Ellyse Perry

There is genuinely a shortage of adjectives in the English language to describe the genius that is Ellyse Perry. Everything she touches ultimately turns to gold. The legendary Australian adds the WPL to her long list of trophies and has played arguably the biggest role in RCB's title-winning season both with bat and ball.

With 7 wickets in 9 games with the ball, including a 6-fer against MI, the best-ever figures in the WPL, and a whopping 347 runs in 9 innings at an incredible average of 69.4, Perry was simply outstanding.

The orange-cap winner brought all of her title-winning experience into play at the WPL final with an unbeaten 35 off 37 balls, ensuring RCB didn't suffer any setbacks during the chase.

There is only one word that can describe Ellyse Perry: GOAT!

Take a bow legend!

Special mention: The 12th Man Army

There are very few fanbases more loyal to a team than the RCB fans. Despite not winning the title for so many years, with the RCB men losing three finals, they have always showered their players with nothing but love and have stuck with the team through thick and thin.

They turned up for the WPL in huge numbers both in Bangalore and then in New Delhi and when Richa hit that boundary sealing RCB's victory, the streets of Bangalore were flooded with the RCB fans who finally have their moment in the sun. Savour this moment RCB fans. You deserve this more than anyone!