I told the girls 10-15 days back that Voll will get a match-winning knock in the final: Mandhana

Smriti Mandhana was one of the lead protagonists of another stirring night to remember for Royal Challengers Bengaluru, in Vadodara. She scored the fastest WPL half-century (23 balls), got the highest individual score in a WPL final (87 off 41) and also chose a great game to enter an elite club, now five-players strong, to have 1000-plus runs in the tournament's brief but storied history.

What she also did was put on a match-turning partnership of 165 from just 92 deliveries with Georgia Voll for the second wicket, which laid out the path to RCB's second title triumph. In the afterglow of the win, Mandhana gave Voll her flowers.

"Yeah, of course, Volly led the way. She had almost all the strike in the PowerPlay, but her intent was really spot on," Mandhana said gleefully. In the kind of chase that had never been pulled off in a knockout game in the WPL, RCB's fortunes rested on how well they maximised the PowerPlay. At the end of it, they had 59/1 with Voll facing 21 of the 36 deliveries, scoring 30 runs. Voll took charge, and also brought Mandhana's recent feelings to life.

"I remember telling the girls 10 or 15 days back that I have a feeling that Volly will get a match-winning knock in the final. I am really happy for her. She's been working extremely hard on her game. I saw her practicing extra in the last two, three days. So I'm happy that it paid off for her."

RCB didn't let the occasion or the opposition's mammoth score in the first innings weigh them down. DC may have smashed 203/4 with Chinelle Henry doing a lot of damage at the backend with a 15-ball 35. They went into the innings break believing that the surface was good to bat and on and that they could pull this off. Mandhana also doffed her hat to one of RCB's top performers this season - Lauren Bell, who finished with figures of 0-19 that included 12 dots and just two fours.

"I mean, it's amazing (a sense of calmness despite conceding 203). Yeah, we definitely did think that it's a good surface to bat on. But of course, 200-plus in a final is definitely a good score. Again, credit to Lauren Bell. I mean, 400 in a match and she goes for like four overs, 20-odd runs. I mean, that's for me is the match-winning spell," Mandhana said.

"I feel (the) girls are working extremely hard and that's one thing which really shoots up your belief when you work hard in the gym, when you're putting in the hard yards, you have that belief that any score you can chase it down, anything you can do. And yeah, I mean the whole group was very hardworking, and they put in the hard yards. So once that happens, we all felt really confident that we could chase it down [DC's 203/4]," Mandhana added, summing up the performance of the whole season.

The seeds of a season like this were sown much before they took the field in the tournament opener. Mandhana was specifically effusive in praise for the support staff for the role clarity that her players were offered long before the season began.

"I think when we win, we all can say that being calm and chill always works. But one thing which has stood out for me is the way support staff has been around the girls, the role clarity was given. Not only now, just after the auction happened, everyone got phone calls, saying this is what we are looking from you. This is the batting order or this is the phase we want you to bowl in. And that really helps. Credit to Malo [Malolan Rangarajan], Anya [Shrubsole], RX [Murali] sir and the roles were pretty clear for all the girls and when I think that happens in the right way, I feel our job is pretty easy to come in and just lead the way." Mandhana said.