Women's Cricket
WPL 2024 Final preview: Delhi Capitals vs Royal Challengers Bangalore
Both franchises will be hoping to end their trophy drought finally as neither of them haven't won the IPL since its inception in 2008
RCB women's team into the final of WPL after a close win (Photo credit: WPL)
After 21 high-octane games in the 2024 edition of the Women's Premier League, we have the two finalists ready to lock horns for the ultimate glory: Delhi Capitals vs Royal Challengers of Bangalore.
The final will take place on Sunday, 16th of March at the Arun Jaitley Stadium here in New Delhi.
Both teams' male counterparts have not won the IPL since its inception in 2008 and the women's teams would no doubt be determined to end the long-awaited trophy drought for their respective franchise owners.
Direct finalists DC find themselves in a good spot
Delhi Capitals come into the finals directly by finishing as league toppers with 6 wins in 8 games. They have a very balanced squad with an explosive opening pair in Meg Lanning who has amassed 308 runs in this year's WPL and sits 2nd in the orange cap race for the leading run scorers. Her opening partner Shefali Varma is also in blistering form with a 71 in her last game.
Jemimah Rodrigues and Alice Capsey bring solidity to their middle order and their bowling attack is also extremely destructive with Marizanne Kapp leading the charts with 11 wickets in this year's WPL. Left-arm spinners Jess Jonassen and Radha Yadav will look to control the middle overs as they have done all season long.
Having won both the matches against RCB during the league phase, DC, at their home ground, are firm favorites in the finals.
RCB comes into the final with strong momentum
The Royal Challengers were very close to losing the Eliminator against the defending champions Mumbai Indians with MI needing just 20 from the last 3 with skipper Harmanpreet Kaur still there. But RCB pulled it off and here they are. They enter the final with a strong sense of belief that they can win games from near-defeat situations.
Orange cap holder Ellyse Perry will have to shoulder most of the responsibility with the bat, as will skipper Smriti Mandhana. They have a very good batting lineup but they should be wary of not giving away too many wickets and the experienced campaigners should look to bat as long as possible to give RCB the best chance of winning the game.
As far as their bowling department is concerned, Shreyanka, Sophie, and Asha all have to come up with a plan to take on the destructive batting lineup of DC. Asha and Sophie have the responsibility of making sure the middle overs don't go for a lot of runs. Perry will no doubt be given a few overs as well to stem the run flow and pick wickets.
