Royal Challengers Bangalore Women (RCB-W) continued their winning run in the Women’s Premier League 2023 as they beat Gujarat Giants (GG) by eight wickets in Match 5 on Tuesday, February 27 at M. Chinnaswamy Stadium, Bengaluru. After being put in to bat first, Gujarat Giants were blown away by Renuka Singh and Sophie Molineux as they could only score 107/7 in their allotted 20 overs.
In reply, RCB comfortably chased down the target in 12.3 overs as captain Smriti Mandhana led from the front with her knock of 43 (27) smashing 8 fours and a six. Apart from her, Sabbhineni Meghana (36* off 28) and Ellyse Perry (23* off 14) also made valuable contributions in the chase.
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Earlier in the day, Gujarat didn’t get off to a good start as captain Beth Mooney departed cheaply for 8 (7) losing her stumps against Renuka Singh who also dismissed Phoebe Litchfield (5 off 12). Veda Krishnamurthy (9 off 15), and Ashleigh Gardner (7 off 12) also failed to leave a mark while Harleen Deol (22 off 31) got run out to leave Gujarat on 70/5 after 15.1 overs.
Dayalan Hemalatha’s valiant knock of 31* (25) helped her side get to a decent score of 107/7 in their allotted 20 overs. Left-arm spinner Sophie Molineux was the pick of the bowlers for RCB as she scalped 3/25 in four overs while Renuka Singh picked 2/14 in her four-over spell.
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Here’s what the two captains and the Player of the Match said after the game:
Losing Captain, Beth Mooney, Gujarat Giants, said:
[why she is smiling?] That it’s over. I don’t have much for you Mel. Defending low totals on these wickets is always tough with the batting RCB have got. Will have to go back to the drawing board. I don’t believe in form in this format, if we start scoring runs in the next two games, then everyone will forget the first two. Perhaps we’re just not taking the high percentage options at the right time. We have to score through the middle-overs, we need wickets in the shed for that as well. We need to get 140. [on Veda at 4] We thought RCB had a few spinners in the middle, we thought it would free her up in the middle but unfortunately it did not work. I might drop myself down the order if I don’t get going. T20 is a fickle game and things can change pretty quickly, so I need to wait for that. There’s not a whole lot we’re doing wrong, just coming across some good batting and bowling. The girls in the group have been picked up for a reason, they need to believe in their skill-set. We can’t keep changing players every year and expect to set the world on fire. We need to stick to the players and get them to perform as individuals and as a collective.
Winning Captain, Smriti Mandhana, Royal Challengers Bangalore, said:
Really happy with the way the crowd turned out, big shout out to them as well. There was no message, keep it simple, watch the ball and react. Me and Sophie do best when we are not thinking. Last match was more to do with the way we saw the first innings. Renuka and Sophie can swing the ball, Renuka the inswinger and Sophie the outswinger, both were brilliant. S Meghana has had a good few seasons domestically and last game she was brilliant. Even today she was really calm and she can strike at a good strike-rate and anchor the innings. Lot of work has gone in the last one year on what kind of team we need. Thank the support staff and the management for this.
Player of the Match, Renuka Singh Thakur, Royal Challengers Bangalore, said:
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