On Tuesday, Royal Challengers Bangalore’s campaign in the inaugural Women’s Premier League came to an end. (March 21). The Smriti Mandhana-led team was defeated by Harmanpreet Kaur’s Mumbai Indians in their final league match of the women’s premier T20 event.
The RCB could only muster 125 runs for the loss of nine wickets, which MI chased down in 16.3 overs. MI briefly led the points table after defeating the star-studded RCB, but the Delhi Capitals retook the lead and confirmed their place in the final, which will be held in Mumbai on Sunday. (March 26).
RCB’s debut season in the Women’s Premier League was a forgettable one, as despite having a star-studded squad, the team only managed to win two of the eight league matches it played. They had lost their first five matches and were on the verge of being eliminated when UP Warriorz defeated the Gujarat Giants on Monday. After finding a winning formula in the previous two matches, RCB fans expected the team to finish the tournament with a win on Tuesday, but that did not happen.
Their captain and star batter, Smriti Mandhana surprised them during the championship game by rolling her arms for the first time in the competition. The left-handed batter, who hardly ever bowls, seized the chance to demonstrate her bowling abilities during the final overs of the match against MI.
In the 17th over of MI’s innings, she bowled, and she gave up nine runs in three balls. The bowling action of Smriti Mandhana, which many fans on social media platforms compared to Virat Kohli, is what everyone noticed most about the video of her performance that has gone viral on those platforms.
Harleen Deol, an all-rounder for the Gujarat Titans and a teammate of Mandhana from India, tweeted about Smriti and compared how similar her bowling motion was to Virat’s.
Virat wears No. 18 and represents RCB in the top Indian T20 league, just like Madhana. Mandhana had a forgettable first season of the WPL, failing to score a single fifty even in the eight games she played during the league season.
