We all remember Virat Kohli’s celebrations after India lifted the 2013 Champions Trophy. The dance, the joy, and the sheer delight that the flamboyant batter had was simply amazing, and why not? After all, he had played a very crucial knock to help India put up a fighting total and eventually come out as winners in the final.
Fast forward 11 years, and cut to the WPL 2024 final. A similar kind of celebration unfolded at the Arun Jaitely Stadium on Sunday evening and it was none other than RCB’s Shreyanka Patil.
The Smriti Mandhana-led side had lifted the WPL trophy in the second edition after defeating Delhi Capitals at their home by eight wickets. Shreyanka’s happiness knew no bounds. She also had earned it as she played a pivotal role for her side to etch their name in record books.
The spinner was named the Emerging Player of the tournament as she picked up 13 wickets in eight games, took the purple cap and scalped a four-wicket haul in the all-important finale to turn “Ee Sala Cup Namde” (the cup will be ours) into “Ee Sala Cup Namdu” (the cup is ours).
“They keep saying ‘Ee Sala Cup Namde’ and we got it. Day in and day out we put our hard work and we manifested, we wanted to win this game and show the fans we can do it,” Patil said after the match.
The right-handed spinner has a knack of picking wickets, especially the big ones. She dismissed Harmanpreet Kaur in the eliminator at the same venue to turn the game on its head and got DC’s skipper Meg Lanning in the final to push the hosts on the back foot further after already having lost three wickets.
Mandhana the Oracle
Molineux had rattled DC’s scoring rate after picking three wickets (Shafali Verma, Jemimah Rodrigues, & Alice Capsey) in just one over. Patil gave the final touches to this collapse with Lanning’s wicket.
The DC captain hadn’t looked comfortable at the crease right from the beginning but the kind of experience she has, Lanning could have taken the game away from RCB if she would have batted longer.
Patil made sure that this doesn’t happen. She trapped her in front with a perfect off-break and sent Lanning back for just 23 off 23. The right-hander also got wickets of Minnu Mani (5 off 3), Arundhati Roy (10 off 13) and Taniya Bhatia (0 off 1) to complete her four-fer. “There is something in the wicket. I’m a different beast when there’s some turn,” Patil had said during the innings break.
Interestingly, Mandhana had already predicted Patil’s magical spell (4/12) of spin bowling.
“Shreyanka has just been brilliant. The first three – four matches didn’t go her way. She came off a really tough zonal tournament. I remember having a chat with her. We were playing South and West (Zones) then. She was really low about certain things and I remember I told her that don’t worry, 17th March, you will do something special. Little did I know that it’s gonna happen (laughs) and she would get a purple cap,” Mandhana said at the post-match press conference.
“I’m really, really happy for her. She has been a very hardworking person. She has had niggles, ankle twists and I don’t know what all she has done to herself in this tournament. But I’m really happy for her. She has really worked hard as a kid. The most complete player to come in the last two years in the circuit for international cricket as well. She believes that she belongs to international cricket and this tournament was actually a stepping stone for her and hopefully she continues to do that for India as well,” Mandhana added.
DC get trapped in spin web
DC were off to a flying start and having scored 61 in the first six overs, they looked settled to post a big score. But one over from Molineux turned the equation on its head.
The spinner first removed Verma whom Wareham caught in the deep for 44 off 27. Molineux then sent Rodrigues back for a two-ball duck. The right-handed batter tried to go for a slog sweep but completely missed the ball and was cleaned up. Her next scalp was Alice Capsey who went across to hit it over short fine leg but she too missed it completely and the ball disturbed the wood-work behind her.
From 64/0, “special player” Molineux brought DC to 64/3 in a span of one over.
“We have been following her since a very long time. I remember her bowling against us (India) in the ODI series. I guess, she was the difference between the two sides for the way she bowled. Last two years have been pretty tough for her. She has had few injuries. She went through ACL. So, really happy for her and the way she played in the final. I think she is definitely a special player,” the skipper said.
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