Royal Challengers Bengaluru pulled off the biggest successful chase in the Women's Premier League to win their second title in the Indian franchise-based Twenty20 league Thursday, handing Delhi Capitals their fourth straight defeat in the final.
Put in to bat first, Delhi posted a commanding 203-4, but Bengaluru rose to the challenge in Vadodara, led by a 165-run second-wicket partnership between captain Smriti Mandhana and Georgia Voll.
With eight needed from the last four balls, Radha Yadav hit two straight boundaries to clinch the six-wicket win, securing Bengaluru's second WPL title after a triumph in 2024.
"We did think it was a good surface to bat on, but of course, 200-plus in the final is definitely a good score... Voll led the way. Her intent was spot-on," said player of the match Mandhana, praising her Australian teammate.
Delhi openers Shefali Verma and Lizelle Lee had quickly added 49 runs within the first six overs, before captain Jemimah Rodrigues (57) and Laura Wolvaardt (44 off 25) added 76 runs for the third wicket.
Wolvaardt and an unbeaten Chinelle Henry (35 of 15) added 49 runs in the last three overs to get Delhi over the 200-run mark for the second time this season, despite a restricting spell from Lauren Bell, who only allowed 19 runs in her four overs.
Bengaluru, needing to break their own record of successfully chasing down a target of 202 against Gujarat Giants last year, lost opener Grace Harris early, but Voll, in at three, hit six boundaries in the next three overs to get the chase going.
Mandhana joined in, hitting three sixes in her innings of 87 off just 41 balls, while Voll scored 79 off 54 before falling to Minnu Mani, as Bengaluru got within 27 runs of the target with three overs to spare.
Delhi, who have made it to every final in the WPL's four-year history, tried to fight back in the 19th over, as Henry (2-34) bowled Mandhana and got Yadav to top-edge the next ball to extra cover, but Mani dropped the catch.
Yadav made no mistake in hitting the winning runs in the final over.
Rodrigues said she was proud of her team's hard work to reach a fourth straight final, the season ending in yet another heartbreak.
"It was not easy for us, but the kind of character our girls showed for us to just make it to the finals, it's something I'm so proud of and I couldn't ask for anything better," she said.