WPL 2023: Familiarity with conditions helped, says Sophie Devine after hitting 36-ball 99

Royal Challenger Bangalore opener Sophie Devine said her familiarity with the Brabourne Stadium after playing a few matches there helped her blast a 36-ball 99 to help her team to an eight-wicket win against Gujarat Giants in the Women’s Premier League (WPL) here on Saturday.

Devine put up a brilliant display of power-hitting as she blasted a 36-ball 99, hitting some of the biggest sixes and became the top scorer in WPL with 266 runs. She muscled her way to her half-century off just 20 balls, hitting six boundaries and four maximums as she gave RCB a big start along with skipper Smriti Mandhana (37 off 31), setting RCB on course to victory.

But Devine overshadowed everyone and overpowered Gujarat Giants, who had put up a big total of 188/4 in their 20 overs thanks to a superb fifty by Laura Wolvaardt (68 of 42) who shared two half-century partnerships with S Meghana (31 off 32) and Ashleigh Gardner (41 off 26).

However, in the end, the chase of 189 proved too little considering the way Devine went about dismantling the Gujarat Giants’ bowling.

“We’ve played a number of games here now and to sit back and watch how other people play, it’s been good to see how other batters go about it,” she told the official broadcaster after the match.

She said she learned a lot from seeing Gujarat Giant’s Ashleigh Gardner (41 off 26) bat in the first innings as she along with Laura Wolvaardt (68 of 46) helped Gujarat to a bit total.

“So even just watching Ash Gardner bat, I learned a lot and just took out the best bits and applied it to how I wanted to bat. It’s nice to be able to contribute with both bat and bowl. I was happy to be able to put RCB into a winning position tonight,” said.

-IANS

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