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

Smriti Mandhana was a lead protagonist in Royal Challengers Bengaluru's WPL final victory in Vadodara. She scored the fastest WPL half-century (23 balls), achieved the highest individual score in a WPL final (87 off 41), and crossed 1000 runs in the tournament's history.

She also built a match-turning partnership of 165 from 92 deliveries with Georgia Voll for the second wicket, setting the path to RCB's title triumph. After the win, Mandhana praised Voll.

"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. In a chase never before achieved in a WPL knockout, RCB's fortunes hinged on maximizing the PowerPlay. They finished it at 59/1, with Voll facing 21 of 36 deliveries for 30 runs. Voll took charge, fulfilling Mandhana's recent prediction.

"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 Delhi Capitals' first-innings score of 203/4 weigh them down. Mandhana also credited Lauren Bell, who finished with figures of 0-19, including 12 dot balls 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," Mandhana added.

Mandhana praised the support staff for providing role clarity well 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.