WPL 2023: Gujarat Giants defeat Royal Challengers Bangalore for the third time in a row.
When Gujarat Giants batted first and reached a solid 201 for 7 after two outstanding half-centuries from Sophia Dunkley (65), and Harleen Deol (67), their bowlers did a respectable job of holding RCB to 190 for 6.
Mumbai: Gujarat Giants defeated Royal Challengers Bangalore in the Women’s Premier League (WPL) here on Wednesday, winning by 11 runs to earn their first victory in three games and handing them their third straight loss.
When Gujarat Giants batted first and reached a solid 201 for 7 after two outstanding half-centuries from Sophia Dunkley (65) and Harleen Deol (67), their bowlers did a respectable job of holding RCB to 190 for 6 in their 20 overs.
In their pursuit, RCB opener and New Zealand batswoman Sophie Devine largely played by herself, scoring a solid 66 from 45 balls with eight fours and two sixes.
Heather Knight gave RCB some hope near the end (30 not out off 11 balls), but the task of scoring 33 runs off the final two overs and 24 off the final over proved too much for the Bangalore team.
Smriti Mandhana, the captain and star batswoman for the RCB, failed once more, getting out for 18, and Ellyse Perry (32) also struggled to make a significant contribution despite getting off to a strong start and forming a crucial 43-run partnership with Devine for the second wicket.
Even with our bowling, we conceded 10-15 runs more than we anticipated. There were two or three overs where we gave up a lot of runs, but not 6-7,” Mandhana said following the game.
If not, we would have improved (with the target). The outfield is good, but one end is particularly short and wasn’t designed with many of our bowlers in mind. We’re trying to fix that. When Devine chose the aggressive path and Mandhana played second fiddle in the powerplay, RCB appeared poised to challenge the target set by Gujarat Giants after giving up more than 200 runs for the second time in three matches so far in the WPL.
The right-handed New Zealand batswoman hit Kim Garth for a few fours in the third over and defeated Annabel Sutherland with three boundaries in the fifth.
Mandhana and Devine added 54 runs to the opening partnership’s 5.1 overs of play before Ashleigh Gardner got the first wicket, getting the RCB captain caught by Mansi Joshi at mid-on.
Sneh Rana, the captain of Gujarat, was struck hard in the hands in the tenth over by a strong return stroke from Perry. After receiving initial care, Rana finished the over, but she soon left the field.
Although Perry and Devine managed to keep the ship stable, pressure built up on them over time due to a lack of boundaries. Perry, a right-handed batter, hit two fours off Joshi in the 12th over but only one of them was straight; he had already made 32 off 25 balls and five fours in total.
Devine cleared the ropes against Tanuja Kanwar to break the chains as RCB needed another 85 from the final six overs at an asking rate of 14. It was not until the first ball of the 14th over that RCB hit their first six.
Gardner dealt the Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) another blow by dismissing the powerful Richa Ghosh for 10 with 77 required off the final five overs.
Sneh Rana, the interim captain of the Gujarat Giants, praised her players’ effort.
“Defending here in CCI is never simple. I am aware that the game was difficult and competitive. We performed admirably,” she said.
We have good batters and a good mix of players, and we are a balanced team. Since our first victory, we have been searching for it, and now we have found it. Beth Mooney remained off the field earlier as Gujarat Giants captain Rana chose to bat first after winning the toss.
Dunkley and Deol, both from England, made significant contributions. The former played an aggressive knock to give the innings a strong start, and the latter stabilised the innings with a number of other batters accompanying him.
Deol top-scored with 67 from just 45 balls, smashing nine fours and one six while she was in the middle. Dunkley’s runs were scored at a strike rate of 232.1, slamming 11 fours and three sixes to quickly get away for 65 from just 28 balls.
Additionally, Dunkley posted the WPL’s fastest fifty so far.
For the second time in three games against RCB at the Brabourne Stadium, an opposition team recorded a total in excess of 200 thanks in part to two fifty-plus stands contributed by Deol.
Deol received two lifelines late in her inning as well, moving up to third place on the list of WPL run scorers (113 runs).
After a sluggish start, Dunkley unleashed her power game and welcomed Renuka Singh with a stunning lofted six over the cover area.
The England batsman showed a particular fondness for Bose, hitting the RCB spinner for four boundaries and a six in the fifth over to score 23 runs and reach an incredible 50 off just 18 balls with the help of nine fours and two sixes.
With just 26 balls, the right-handed batter increased her 50-run stand with Deol by hammering Shreyanka Patil for a six and a four. To end her inning, Patil forced Dunkley to hit a straight shot to Heather Knight at long off.
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