NEW DELHI: It is quite apparent in the sport that the home team holds an advantage of having crowd support by their side but it was not the case during the Women's Premier League (WPL) final between Delhi Capitals and Royal Challengers Bangalore in Delhi on Sunday.
At the toss, Delhi captain Meg Lanning received a mediocre response from the crowd. On the contrary, the Delhi crowd went crazy when RCB skipper
Smriti Mandhana
stepped up to have a chat with presenter
Ravi Shastri
.
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Spectators' loud cheers for Mandhana left former India head coach Shastri astonished as he said, "I know this is Delhi but it seems like Bengaluru."
Lanning won the toss and opted to bat first in the final at the Arun Jaitley Stadium.
"We will bat tonight, feel that's the best chance to win the game. The pitch looks good and we'll have to bat well. What has happened before is irrelevant, we're up against a great team and we need to play well," she said after winning the toss.
Mandhana said right-handed top-order batter Sabbhineni Meghana comes into the playing eleven in place of left-arm fast-bowler Shraddha Pokharkar, who didn't bowl at all in the five-run win over Mumbai Indians in the Eliminator on Friday.
"We would have batted first as well, but I think it doesn't really go well, we will have to bowl well, stick to our plans, and play some good cricket. We've had a lot of ups and downs so far, but we need to be at our best tonight. This is the fourth match on the same wicket, the last game, it played slow," she said.