Royal Challengers Bangalore Women (RCB-W) player Sophie Molineux, 26, looked a class apart in the high-octane Women’s Premier League (WPL) 2024 final against Delhi Capitals Women (DC-W) at the Arun . Jaitley Stadium in Delhi on Sunday, March 17.
The Delhi Capitals women were firing on all cylinders after opting to bat first in the summit clash. The opening duo of Shafali Verma and Meg Lanning looked absolutely dominant and smashed the RCB-W players all over the park.
At one point, Delhi Capitals Women looked set to post a total of over 150 runs on the board. However, they faced a terrible batting collapse and went from 64/0 to 113/10. Sophie Molineux was the one who started the damage as she produced an epic 3 wickets to dismiss Shafali Verma, Jemimah Rodrigues and Alice Capsey.
After that, Delhi Capitals Women just went downhill and couldn’t score any runs. After picking 3 wickets in one over, Sophie Molineux was not satisfied as she then played an incredible shot to dismiss Delhi Capitals Women’s player Radha Yadav in the 17th over.
In the second ball of the 17th over, Asha Sobhana bowled a long delivery outside off stump and Arundhati Reddy played it towards offside. Radha, who was at the other end, thought there was a race and she, without any communication, ran towards only one. Reddy did not leave her crease and forced Radha to run back.
However, the Delhi Capitals women’s batsman could not reach the crease as Sophie Molineux produced an incredible direct hit to bowl her out for 12.
Watch: Sophie Molineux’s stunning direct hit to eliminate Delhi Capitals women’s star Radha Yadav in WPL 2024 final
On the big stage, Molineux 😎 can’t go wrong
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RCB-W journey in Women’s Premier League (WPL) 2024
Royal Challengers Bangalore Women (RCB-W) were terrible in the inaugural edition of the Women’s Premier League (WPL) despite having a star-studded lineup. They just won 2 matches in WPL 2023 and ended the season on a disappointing note.
However, they were significantly better in WPL 2024 and finished third in the table with 4 wins under their belt. The Smriti Mandhana-led team started their campaign with back-to-back wins but then lost the next two matches. RCB-W won their fifth match of the competition but again suffered back-to-back defeats that jeopardized their hopes of qualifying for the playoffs.
In their last league match, RCB-W took a big step forward and annihilated the defending champions to reach the playoffs. Australian all-rounder Ellyse Perry bowled a historic spell of 6/15 before scoring 40 runs off 38 balls to help her team win by 7 wickets.
RCB-W faced the defending champions, Mumbai Indians, in the knockout stages of the competition. In the high-profile match, the team’s batting unit faltered once again, but Ellyse Perry’s heroics (66 runs off 50 balls) ensured they put up a respectable total on the board – 135/6. It was then up to the bowlers to do the job and they did not disappoint as they held their nerve and restricted MI-W to 130/6 to clinch a 5-execute victory.