The WPL 2024 which was season two of the franchised women’s cricket ended with RCB lifting their first title. Let us cover the journey of RCB women in WPL 2024 and how they landed their hands on the prized WPL trophy.
Who wins the WPL 2024 final?
The RCB women showed how to win trophies as the Smriti Mandhana-led side emerged as WPL 2024 winners beating Delhi Capitals by 8 wickets in Sunday’s summit clash. The ardent fans of Royal Challengers Bengaluru have something to feel proud of themselves as their loyalty finally yielded a desired result with Smriti Mandhana and company lifting the title for the first time in the only second edition of the WPL which was incepted last year.
It was never an easy task to carry a lot of expectations of the strong fan base and the girls deserve to be crowned as the WPL 2024 winner. Unlike the first edition of the WPL which was staged only in Mumbai, the tournament was co-hosted by Bengaluru and Delhi in the second season. Playing in front of their home fans who turned out in large numbers for the RCB’s first five games gave a massive boost as they finished the first leg with 3 wins.
Ellyse Perry’s consistency played a pivotal role in RCB’s success, she finished as the Orange Cup winner with a tally of 347 runs in 9 matches and even bagged 7 wickets with the record-breaking best figures of 6 for 15. Even the Purple Cap went their way with upcoming player Shreyanka Patil ended the tournament with 13 scalps in 8 matches with the best figures of 4 for 12. All these factors helped them to become the WPL winner this year.
WPL Points Table:
| Teams | Matches | Win | Loss | Tie | N/R | Points | Net Run Rate | |
| 1 | Delhi Capitals Women | 8 | 6 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 12 | 1.198 |
| 2 | Mumbai Indians Women | 8 | 5 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 10 | 0.024 |
| 3 | Royal Challengers Bangalore Women | 8 | 4 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 8 | 0.306 |
| 4 | UP Warriorz Women | 8 | 3 | 5 | 0 | 0 | 6 | -0.371 |
| 5 | Gujarat Giants Women | 8 | 2 | 6 | 0 | 0 | 4 | -1.158 |
Meg Lanning led side Delhi Capitals topped the standings for the second consecutive time to lock their spot directly in the finals and defending champions the mighty Mumbai Indians finished 2nd with 10 points. WPL winner this year, Royal Challengers with a lot of ups and downs managed to seek their knockout qualification after a 3rd place finish.
It was indeed a dream come true moment for Smriti Mandhana and company who emerged as WPL 2024 winner for the first time beating Delhi Capitals in the Finals. Royal Challengers headed into the Finals as underdogs, failing to bag a win over Delhi Capitals in their previous four meetings, and scripted a huge turnaround to win the contest by 8 wickets and be crowned as the new WPL winner. Royal Challengers Bengaluru franchise opened their trophy cabinet with an elusive title after 16 years of struggle.
What’s the Prize Money of WPL?
After emerging as the WPL 2024 winner, Royal Challengers Bengaluru has bagged a whopping Rs 6 Crore as prize money and the runners-up Delhi Capitals has received Rs 3 crore.
WPL Winner: Royal Challengers Bengaluru – Rs 6 crore
Runners-up: Delhi Capitals – Rs 3 crore
Orange Cap – Ellyse Perry (347 runs)- Rs 5 Lakh
Purple Cap – Shreyanka Patil (13 wickets) – Rs 5 Lakh
Emerging Player of the Tournament – Shreyanka Patil – Rs 5 Lakh
Most Valuable Player of the Tournament (295 runs and 10 wickets) – Deepti Sharma – Rs 5 Lakh
Powerful Striker of the Season – Georgia Wareham (Strike rate of 163.23) – Rs 5 Lakh
Player of the Final – Sophie Molineux (3 wickets) – Rs 2.5 Lakh
Powerful Striker of the Final – Shafali Verma (3 sixes and 2 fours) – Rs 1 Lakh
Most Sixes of the Tournament – Shafali Verma (20 sixes) – Rs 5 Lakh
Best Catch – Sajeevan Sajana – Rs 5 Lakh
Fairplay Award – Royal Challengers Bengaluru – Rs 5 Lakh
Now that the women have secured the first title for RCB, it is the men’s turn to chase the trophy.
Royal Challengers Bengaluru (Men’s) squad 2024:
The franchise revealed its new chapter this season as it rebranded from Royal Challengers Bangalore to ‘Royal Challengers Bengaluru’ with their long servant Virat Kohli announcing ‘Idhu RCB ya hosa adyaya’ in Tuesday’s unbox event. King Kohli has been part of every season since the franchise’s inception in 2008 and has come a long way and his performances have skyrocketed in the last decade.
He holds the record for the most runs in a single season of the IPL, amassing 973 runs in 2016. Kohli will come into this season with a lot of enthusiasm after taking a paternity leave following the birth of his second child. He skipped the 5-matches Test series against England.
The squad has assembled already for training to kick start their preparations ahead of their opening game against arch-rivals Chennai Super Kings in Friday’s southern derby. With Lok Sabha elections coming up, The IPL committee has announced the schedule only for the first 21 matches where RCB is set to play 5 matches with 3 at home and 2 away. RCB management parted ways with their previous Director of Cricket Operations, Mike Hesson, and head coach Sanjay Bangar following the side’s failure to reach the playoffs last season.
They have roped in former Zimbabwe cricketer Andy Flower as their new head Coach for the 2024 edition. He boasts a strong experience in the coaching department as he has worked with International teams and T20 franchises around the world.
Full Squad:
Faf du Plessis (c), Virat Kohli, Cameron Green, Rajat Patidar, Glenn Maxwell, Dinesh Karthik (wk), Suyash Prabhudessai, Mayank Dagar, Mohammed Siraj, Reece Topley, Yash Dayal, Akash Deep, Anuj Rawat (wk), Manoj Bhandage, Saurav Chauhan, Tom Curran, Lockie Ferguson, Will Jacks, Alzarri Joseph, Mahipal Lomror, Rajan Kumar, Himanshu Sharma, Karn Sharma, Swapnil Singh, Vyshak Vijay Kumar
The current 25-member squad boosts a strong set of skill sets across departments and is ready to clinch the coveted IPL title for the first time in 16 years.
The women’s team lifted the title in a grand style by becoming the WPL winner in the only second edition. Will the Men double it this year against all the odds? We need to wait and watch.