[Watch] RCB men's team give their female counterparts guard of honour on winning WPL 2024

The Royal Challengers Bangalore's (RCB) men's team provided a guard of honour to their female counterparts during the unbox event on Tuesday, March 19. Its video went viral on social media as Smriti Mandhana led the way with the coveted Women's Premier League (WPL) trophy.

Smriti Mandhana's girls overcame the odds to defeat the Delhi Capitals in the WPL final at the Arun Jaitely Stadium on Sunday, March 17. After the Capitals made a strong start, Shreyanka Patil and Sophie Molineux triggered a collapse of epic proportions to bowl them out for 113 from 64-0.

The RCB women's team won the trophy only on their second attempt. Following that, the netizens inevitably trolled the men's side for failing to get the job done despite reaching the final thrice. Hence, Faf du Plessis and Co. will be determined to lift the crown this year.

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RCB men's team to face Chennai Super Kings in the tournament opener

Faf du Plessis heads for a practice session. (Credits: Twitter)

The Bangalore-based franchise will face the defending champions Chennai Super Kings at the Chidambaram Stadium in the first match of IPL 2024. The Yellow Army has a strong record over the opposition, winning 20 out of 30 matches.

Du Plessis' men narrowly missed out on a playoff spot last year and finished sixth in the standings with seven wins and as many losses. They've bought in the likes of Lockie Ferguson, Alzarri Joseph, Tom Curran, Yash Dayal, Swapnil Singh, and Saurav Chauhan in the auction.

RCB will also feel bolstered by the trade of the all-rounder Cameron Green, who smashed over 400 runs for the Mumbai Indians last year, including a century.

All eyes will be on Virat Kohli as he returns to action following a two-month break, having also missed the five-Test series against England. He made over 600 runs in IPL 2023 and should be backed to score a truckload of them again in the 2024 edition.