WPL 2023: Virat Kohli's pep talk with Smriti Mandhana's RCB goes viral ahead of their first win - Watch

Smriti Mandhana-led Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) had a winless run in their first five games in the Women's Premier League (WPL) 2023 before they beat Uttar Pradesh Warriorz (UPW) by five wickets on Wednesday (March 15). While Mandhana & Co. remain alive in the race to enter the playoffs, they only have a slim chance. Nonetheless, they will be much relieved having earned their maiden win in WPL 2023.

Ahead of their clash versus UPW, the RCB camp's mood was uplifted by Indian star Virat Kohli. Kohli, who represents the RCB in IPL, is in Mumbai -- where WPL is being held -- to take part in Hardik Pandya-led India's first ODI versus Australia, on March 17. Thus, he took some time out of his schedule and gave a pep talk to the Mandhana-led RCB.

In a video shared by the RCB’s official Twitter handle, on Thursday (March 16), Virat shared some words of wisdom and said, "I’ve been playing IPL for 15 years. And I haven’t won it yet. But that doesn’t stop me from being excited every year. That’s all I can do. That’s the effort I can put into every game and every tournament that I play. If we win, great. If we don’t, then I am not going to go to my grave thinking that if only I had won an IPL, I would be a happy man. It doesn’t happen like that. So always think about the opportunity that you have rather than how bad it is right now."

He added, "There is always a flip side to it, and it could always be worse than this. And the fact that we haven’t won the IPL, but I still feel that we have the best fans in the world. Only because we were always committed to every game that we played for RCB. That has been the most special thing for our fans. There’s no guarantee of giving you a cup every year, but there’s a guarantee of giving your 110% every year, and that’s all you can strive to do."

Kohli's talk motivated the entire bunch as Mandhana-led RCB defeated UPW on Wednesday evening in a low-scoring game at theDr DY Patil Sports Academy, Navi Mumbai. Opting to bowl first, Bengaluru dismissed UPW for 135 in 19.3 overs withEllyse Perry (3 for 16), Sophie Devine (2 for 23) and Asha Shobana (2 for 27) shining with the ball. For UP, Grace Harris top-scored with a 32-ball 46 before RCB rode on Kanika Ahuja's 30-ball 46 and Richa Ghosh's 32-ball 31* to win by five wickets with two overs to spare.

RCB remain alive to end in the top three (although they can, at maximum, only settle for the third position) and enter the knockouts. They need to win their remaining two games and also hope for other results to favour them.