Watch: Captain Smriti Mandhana could not control her happiness as overwhelming crowd support welcomed the Royal Challengers Bangalore team in their first-ever home match of WPL.

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Bengaluru, the home of the men’s team, is hosting the first leg of the second edition of Women’s Premier League. For their first match against UP Warriorz on Saturday, a near-full stadium welcomed the team.

At the toss, Mandhana was welcomed with a massive cheer, and could barely say a word before the Bengaluru crowd drowned her voice. She stood in amazement, probably a little emotional too, gesturing at the crowd to lower their voice so that she could continue.

“I think we knew as a team that RCB with their fanbase – we’re going to get this and that’s what our chat was around that there’s going to be a lot of noise,” Mandhana said. “There will be a lot of support for us.”

The M Chinnaswamy Stadium is known for its passionate fans, with full houses for all home IPL matches. The women’s team was introduced ahead of the inaugural season last year, which was played entirely in Mumbai. The fixture against UP Warriorz thus became the RCB Women’s team’s first home match.

Mandhana entertained the crowd with a couple of boundary hits, but couldn’t continue for long, falling in the sixth over to Tahlia McGrath. Her opening partner Sophie Devine was dismissed by Grace Harris in the third over itself.

At the end of the ten-over mark, the RCB Women’s team was 64-3.

Watch Mandhana struggle to talk through the cheering

https://twitter.com/khushich277/status/1761385182433599712?t=BOc5-Odst8sEU6RYh0WPTQ&s=19

 

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