"One statement that always comes up is Ee Sala Cup Namde. Now it's Ee Sala Cup Namdu," Smriti Mandhana tweaked the phrase that was being used to end a 16-year-old wait of RCB fans. And also, the fortunes, the destiny, the emotions and whatnot. For those uncountable fans, who were striving to get one look at their favourite team onto the top of the podium, would be going gaga on the streets of Bengaluru. They might be replicating the scene of Om Shanti Om's famous dialogue, "Itni Shiddat se maine tumko paane ki koshish ki hai...".
That has turned into reality, the Bengaluru streets went bonkers on Sunday night as if there would be no tomorrow and everyone wanted to live their hearts out for those queens who made it into reality. 16 years of patience, 16 years of heartbreak, 16 years of support met with reward finally, yes finally.
When Mandhana got her hands to the trophy at the Arun Jaitley Stadium in Delhi, she was not the alone who lifted it. Crores of RCB fans in this cricket-loving nation had their hands on it with Mandhana. They lifted it as well and jumped all over the places like kids who just wanted this time to come. It came but not without such a long wait.
While Mandhana had earlier made it clear that the women's team is not carrying the burden of failures of men's side for not lifting the trophy in IPL, the fans would have had that thoughts though. But the burden should not have been there. This team is just two years old and flying already.
When RCB won the elusive WPL title, the players and the fans were overjoyed - singing, dancing, cheering, crying, roaring and most of the nine rasas. Virat Kohli, who is an exemplar of loyalty with RCB, was on video call too as soon as it got over and was overjoyed in himself. Mandhana was on cloud nine. Spinner Asha Shobana in tears. The feeling would take some ages to sink, yes ages. A first is a first and is remembered forever. Don't you remember the man who first stepped on the moon?
RCB's journey in the WPL is nothing short of extraordinary. They did not boss this tournament but had their shares of joy and disappointment over the course of almost a month. From a two-run win to set off their campaign in style, to a one-run defeat in the latter part of the group stage, RCB saw it all. Mandhana saw it all and so did the fans. But when the time mattered they displayed their A games.
In a crucial clash for the playoffs against Mumbai Indians, they defeated the defending champions in style with a special Ellyse Perry magic. Oh she is the GOAT. With figures of 6/15, score of 40 off 38 in the chase against MI in group game, she began what a level of consistency in big games that is hard to believe.
Three-days after that final group stage, Perry played probably the most crucial knocks in RCB women's history as she made 66 off 50 with no one else getting to even 20. Due to her heroics, RCB had something to fight at 135 against the defending champions. And boy they did. The spinners then joined the party with Shreyanka Patil leading from the front. Who can forget Shreyanka, who suffered a hairline fracture and missed two games too. She produced the best bowling figures in a WPL final when she took 4/12. Perry continued her form in the final too as the cool-headed Aussie champion made 35 from 37 in the run-chase. Mandhana was cool as cucumber as well in her 39-ball 31 as RCB did not wanted to take unnecessary risks.
Shreyanka was not untouched by the Ee Sala Cup namde phrase too and showed that RCB now has a cup with them. "They keep saying "ee sala cup namde" and we got it. That's it guys, it is for the fans. 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. We felt like family, we did not know Luke much, last game we won against Mumbai, he had tears, we are looking forward to continuing this," Patil said after RCB's WPL win.
The captain reverberated. "Feeling hasn't still sunk in. Hard for me to come out with expressions. One thing I'll say is I'm proud of the bunch," a joyful Mandhana said after the win. Last year, they lost several games in a row and were not in contention for the playoffs when the teams were hustling in the latter end. this time, they turned it around.
"These tournaments are about peaking at the right time. Last year taught us a lot of things. What went wrong, what went right? Management just said this is your team, build it (your way). Thumbs up to them. For RCB, it's a lot more. I'm not the only one who won the trophy, the team has won the trophy. I'm not the person to talk about what I feel. This is in the top five maybe. Obviously, a World Cup would top it. Have a message for the fans - the most loyal fanbase," Mandhana added.
Then she signed off after tweaking the phrase of 16 years of wait. "One statement that always comes up is Ee Sala Cup Namde (the Cup will be ours). Now it's Ee Sala Cup Namdu (The Cup is ours). Kannada is not my first language but it was important to say it for the fans," Mandhana said. She has not only changed this statement but also the fortunes and destiny.
