BENGALURU: Smriti Mandhana and Sabbhineni Meghana’s blitzkrieg helped Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) seal a comfortable eight-wicket win over Gujarat Giants (GGT) in the fifth match of the Women’s Premier League (WPL) 2024 at M Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bengaluru on Tuesday.
Mandhana and Sophie Devine came on the crease for the Bengaluru-based franchise while chasing a 108-run target. The Mandhana-Devine pair made a 32-run partnership until Ashleigh Gardner dismissed the Kiwi batting allrounder in the fourth over of the game. Devine scored only six runs from six and smashed one four with a strike rate of 100.00.
Devine’s dismissal did not stop Mandhana from playing a fiery knock. She played a 43-run knock from 27 balls with a strike rate of 159.26 until Tanuja Kanwar dismissed her in the ninth over. The Indian batter smashed eight fours and one six.
After the dismissal of two openers, Sabbhineni Meghana and Ellyse Perry took charge of the game and did not disappoint the hosts. Meghana and Perry played an unbeaten knock till the end and successfully chased the 108-run knock.
Meghana played a 36-run knock from 28 balls with a strike rate of 128.57. She slammed five fours and one six in the second innings. Meanwhile, Perry hit four fours and powered RCB to 110/2 and sealed a second consecutive win in the T20 tournament.
Earlier, Gujarat Giants’ openers Harleen Deol and skipper Beth Mooney came out to bat. Both of them were able to score only 11 runs before Mooney was sent back to the pavilion by star India bowler Renuka Thakur.
Pheobe Litchfield came next on the crease to bat along with Harleen. Both the batters put on 19 runs before the former was dismissed by Renuka in the sixth over after scoring just five runs.
After Litchfield’s dismissal, right-hand batter Veda Krishnamurthy came out to bat. Both the batters were able to add just 15 runs before Veda was dismissed after scoring just nine runs.
Inside five runs, the Giants lost the wicket of set-batter Harleen as she was sent back to the pavilion on 22 after being run out.
The highest run-getter for GG was Dayalan Hemalatha who played an unbeaten knock of 31 runs from 25 balls with the help of two fours and a six. Vice-captain of the side, Sneh Rana played a crucial knock too and scored 12 runs with the help of two boundaries.
For RCB, the highest wicket-taker was Molineux who snapped three wickets in her spell of four overs in which she conceded 25 runs. Two wickets were grabbed by Renuka in her spell of four overs. One wicket was bagged by Georgia Wareham.
Brief score: Gujarat Giants 107/7 ( Dayalan Hemalatha 31*, Harleen Deol 22, Sneh Rana 12; Sophie Molineux 3/25) vs Royal Challengers Bangalore 110/2 (Smriti Mandhana 43, Sabbhineni Meghana 36*, Ellyse Perry 23*; Ashleigh Gardner 1/15). (ANI)