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Royal Challengers Bangalore men's team gave the Smriti Mandhana-led Women's Premier League 2024 champions a guard of honour during the RCB Unbox event on Tuesday.
RCB's men's team comprising of Faf du Plessis, Virat Kohli, Reece Topley, Mohammed Siraj, Cameron Green, Glenn Maxwell, Dinesh Karthik, Karn Sharma and many more gave the women's team a guard of honour. Smriti walked holding the trophy with the rest of the players as the men's team stars applauded the WPL 2024 champions. The RCB women's team took a victory lap around the M Chinnaswamy Stadium as fans cheered for the title-winning team. During the victory lap, Smriti was on a video call with star all-rounder Ellyse Perry. At the end of the victory lap, the team also posed with the trophy. RCB on Sunday lifted the WPL trophy following an all-rounded performance in all facets of the game. Sophie Molineux and Shreyanka Patil's spin spun the Delhi Capitals batters and restricted them to a total of 113. In reply, RCB comfortably chased down the target and stood victorious with an 8-wicket victory. RCB's men's team will look to replicate the success with a squad that is a mix of talent, youth and experience. Star batter Kohli will make his on-field return, after missing the two T20I matches of the three-match series against Afghanistan in January and went on to miss the five-match Test series against England. After linking up with the RCB squad Virat said in a video posted by the franchise on social media, "It is really good to be back, firstly playing cricket. Also, exciting to come back to Bangalore for the start of the IPL season. Similar emotions, similar feelings. I have not been off the media radar for two months, I have been into normalcy you can say. I am pretty happy to back, I hope all the fans are happy and excited as well." The likes of du Plessis and Maxwell would further strengthen RCB's squad and their chances of powering them to the powerplay. RCB strengthened their squad in the IPL 2024 auction by acquiring the services of foreign and Indian talent which includes Alzarri Joseph, Yash Dayal, Tom Curran, Lockie Ferguson, Swapnil Singh and Saurav Chauhan. They will begin their campaign in the season opener clash against Chennai Super Kings on Friday at the MA Chidambaram Stadium. RCB IPL 2024 squad: Faf du Plessis (c), Glenn Maxwell, Virat Kohli, Rajat Patidar, Anuj Rawat, Dinesh Karthik, Suyash Prabhudessai, Will Jacks, Mahipal Lomror, Karn Sharma, Manoj Bhandage, Mayank Dagar, Vijaykumar Vyshak, Akash Deep, Mohammed Siraj, Reece Topley, Himanshu Sharma, Rajan Kumar, Cameron Green, Alzarri Joseph, Yash Dayal, Tom Curran, Lockie Ferguson, Swapnil Singh, Saurav Chauhan. (ANI)
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