RCB's spirited women's team has managed to achieve what their men's team could not do over 16 years.
Defending champions England huffed and puffed to a one-wicket victory over hosts New Zealand in a league stage match to keep their semi-final hopes alive at the ICC Women's World Cup, in Auckland, on Sunday.
The White Ferns chased down the target in 29.2 overs to register a morale-boosting win.
On a high after two easy victories on the trot, including one against defending champions Australia, India will aim to inch closer to a semi-final berth when it takes on New Zealand in the ICC Women's T20 World Cup, in Melbourne, on Thursday.
Smriti Mandhana, on Friday, rose three rungs to fourth but Jemimah Rodrigues dropped to seventh in the latest ICC women's T20 International rankings
Smriti Mandhana and Jemimah Rodrigues were among the overseas players retained by their respective franchises
The Indian bowlers, who underperformed prior to the game, finally got their act together to limit New Zealand to 251 for nine in 50 overs.
India felt the absence of experienced pacer Jhulan Goswami as they suffered a three-wicket defeat in the second women's ODI against New Zealand in Queenstown on Tuesday.
Kaur is the only Indian to feature in the best XI of WBBL despite some quality performances by the likes of Smriti Mandhana, who became the first from the country to hit a century in the league with a record-equalling 114 not out.
Indian batting is prone to collapses, especially from a position of strength. Chasing 160, India were going strong at 102 for 1 but Smriti Mandhana and Jemimah Rodrigues's dismissals proved fatal for the visitors who collapsed to 136 all out, bringing back memories of their inexplicable surrender in the 2017 50-over World Cup final against England.
Team-wise list of players during WPL auction
Three men and four women in the Teams of 2022
'Back-to-back wickets put a lot of pressure because we didn't have batter who can take it deep'
India's tennis icon Sania Mirza, who played her last Grand Slam at the Australian Open last month, was roped in by the Royal Challengers Bangalore team as their mentor in the inaugural Women's Premier League.
The Indian women's cricket team defeated New Zealand by three wickets in the third and final Twenty20 International, in Bangalore, on Wednesday. The consolation victory gave the Indians something to cheer about following defeats in the first two games.
The Mumbai batter is the third-highest-ranked Indian after Smriti Mandhana (third) and Shafali Verma (seventh), while captain Harmanpreet Kaur is next, moving to 13th position after gaining two places.
The second edition of the Women's Premier League, beginning in Bengaluru on Friday with a high-profile match between defending champions Mumbai Indians and runners-up Delhi Capitals, will be optimistic about meeting its existential purpose of giving a wider platform to promising home-grown talents.
New Zealand Cricket games to be streamed on Amazon Prime Video.
Smriti Mandhana smashed 58 from just 34 balls but a middle order collapse saw India lose to New Zealand by 23 runs in the first T20 International.
The Australian women's cricket team matched the world record 21-game winning streak in one-day internationals set in 2003.
New Zealand captain Kane Williamson and women's all-rounder Amelia Kerr picked up national player-of-the-year awards at a ceremony in Auckland on Thursday.
Smriti Mandhana-led IPL Trailblazers compete against IPL Supernovas, to be captained by Harmanpreet Kaur.
India's teen batting sensation Shafali Verma is set to play for Birmingham Phoenix in the inaugural edition of The Hundred and might also turn up for a Sydney franchise in the Women's Big bash League later in the year.
The WPL action is slated to be held on February 13 in Mumbai, a day after India's T20 World Cup opener against Pakistan.
Domestic cricket will only happen when travelling is safe: Ganguly
Tennis legend Sania Mirza doesn't know much about cricket but as an elite athlete for the last two decades, she feels she can help Royal Challengers Bangalore women cricketers to deal with the mental aspect of things.
India suffered 18-run defeat to hosts New Zealand
India captain Mithali Raj was on Thursday named in the ICC Women's ODI Team of the Year while left-arm spinner Ekta Bisht was the lone cricketer to find a place in the both the ODI and T20 Teams of the year announced by the world body.
The Indian women's team almost pulled off a dramatic win but failed to score a boundary in the final delivery to lose the third and final T20 International against New Zealand by a mere two runs in Hamilton.
Devine, who was the top run-getter for New Zealand at this year's ICC Women's T20 World Cup, feels introduction of a smaller ball could change the dynamics of the women's game.
For ICC Women's Player of the Decade, Ellyse Perry (Australia), Meg Lanning (Australia), Suzie Bates (New Zealand), Stafanie Taylor (West Indies), Mithali Raj (India), Sarah Taylor (England) have been nominated.
The five teams -- Mumbai Indians, Delhi Capitals, RCB, Gujarat Giants and UP Warriorz -- will be bidding for 90 players in a list of 409.
Australia began their Women's T20 World Cup title defence on a resounding note
According to current regulations, the ball used in women's cricket is fractionally smaller and lighter than that used in the men's game.
Suzie Bates blasted 79 not out on her home ground of Dunedin as New Zealand earned a nine-wicket victory over Bangladesh in the ICC Women's Cricket World Cup 2022.
India skipper Harmanpreet Kaur came much cheaper for Mumbai Indians at nearly half the price of Mandhana at Rs 1.80 crore.
Virat Kohli gave a pep talk to the RCB Women's Team
WPL witnessed special performances from some of the best cricketers in the world
West Indies opener Chris Gayle, who is a popular name among T20 leagues around the world, was not picked along Sri Lankan fast bowler Lasith Malinga.
Australia beat India by nine runs to win the Commonwealth Games women's T20 cricket gold medal on Sunday but the real winner was the sport which delivered compelling competition and boosted its case to be included in the Olympics.
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