Sheroes who dared to dream!

Just what could have been on Royal Challengers Bangalore's wishlist before the Kotla final? Win a toss on a slow pitch, build an opening partnership of 50+ runs, and remove two in-form batters for a duck. They got all that. Bangalore produced a near-perfect game on Sunday and mauled Delhi Capitals in their own backyard to lift their maiden WPL trophy.

The headlining performance came from ‘crowd favourite' Ellyse Perry as RCB prised the WPL trophy out of DC's hands. Perry, who has the best bowling innings of 6/15 against Mumbai Indians this season, made a mockery of Capitals' bowling abilities to play a jack-in-the-box innings ensuring the hosts finish runners-up for a second consecutive time.

Also Read: Mumbai's might against Bangalore's brilliance

It was the ease with which the runs flowed and the calm manner in which they were accumulated by RCB women that caught the most attention. There were several impressive shots on display but nearly all of them stuck to conventional areas. Given the low-scoring thriller, the reaction of the likes of Smriti Mandhana, Sophie Devine, Richa Ghosh, and Perry reflected their awareness of the need to keep adrenalin in check.

"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 fourth match on the same wicket, the last game, it played slow," Mandhana said at the toss.

Perhaps, all three swore by their skipper's dictum.

For instance, take the pair of Mandhana-Devine into account. How beautifully they complemented each other with contrasting approaches! While Devine punctuated her bunts, chips and drives with the occasional medium to a big hit, Mandhana went the other way. The skipper punctuated her flamboyant on-the-up hits with subtle punches for mostly singles and twos. They both ran between the wickets hard and fast and the scoring rate never flagged until Devine fell, while being trapped in front by veteran pacer Shikha Pandey. However, RCB, by then, had already laid a great platform. And Mandhana was still at the crease.

Also Read: Twice the brilliance?

But Perry, who appeared to be destined for big things in the red-black jersey, held the innings together, with Mandhana on the other side, going from strength to strength. However, the left-hander had only herself to blame after a rash shot in the 13th over forced her out of the field. Then came Richa, who along with Perry, unleashed a series of lofted extra cover drives to dent the embittered hosts.

The title looked headed Capitals' way before the start of the match, but cricket has always been notorious for its unpredictable rhythm. "We will bat tonight, feel that's the best chance to win the game. The pitch looks good and we'll have to bat well. What has happened before is irrelevant, we're up against a great team and we need to play well," said Meg Lanning at the toss.

Things just didn't go right for Delhi and everything went according to script for Bangalore. What Virat Kohli's RCB could not do in 16 years, the red and gold women brigade took no more than two years to accomplish.

Remember the RCB slogan ‘Ee Saala Cup Namde' (translating to ‘The Cup will be ours this year')? Perhaps, it's time to change that to ‘The Cup is ours this year'!