Well begun is half done, goes the saying. That's the reason why Royal Challengers Bengaluru skipper Smriti Mandhana was elated after her team mounted a successful chase of the joint-highest score ever in the Women's Premier League (WPL) to make a winning start in the defense of their title.
I am really happy that we were on the winning side.
Middle-order batters Elysse Perry (57), Richa Ghosh (64 not out), and Kanika Ahuja (30 not out) rescued RCB from the loss of early wickets. Ghosh and Ahuja shared an unbeaten 93-run stand for the fifth wicket which saw RCB reach 202/4 in 18.3 overs, sealing a six-wicket win in the opening game of the tournament. Richa scored 64 runs in just 27 deliveries at a strike rate of 237.3 whilst being fully supported by Kanika with her 13-ball blitz at a strike rate of 230.76.
Gujarat Giants rode on a majestic 27-ball unbeaten 79 by skipper Ashleigh Gardner and a 42-ball 56 by Beth Mooney, another of their Australian stars, to post a challenging 201/5, the joint-highest score ever posted in the tournament.
But with the RCB middle-order of Perry, Ghosh, and Ahuja firing on all cylinders, RCB romped to victory with nine balls remaining.
Skipper Mandhana, who scored only nine runs, lauded her middle-order batters and said they made the victory possible and called it 'brilliant to watch'.
The way Richa and Pez (Perry) batted, it was amazing to watch. Brilliant to watch, they have been doing that in the nets. Really happy that things clicked. After the first innings, we knew it would be tough to bowl, so always thought we were in the game.
Though RCB won the match, the fact that they allowed Gujarat Giants to cross 200 proves there are issues with their bowling attack that they need to tackle. They are already without their top three wicket-takers from the 2024 title-winning campaign with previous year’s Purple Cap winner, Shreyanka Patel, Sophie Molineux, and Asha Shobana all out with injuries.
The trio had collectively picked up 37 wickets last season and were the top three highest wicket-takers in the tournament. Mandhana acknowledged their absence and stated her side will need to work on a lot of areas as a bowling and fielding unit.
We lost the top three wicket-takers of last year, but luckily we had good options (coming in). Whoever has come in are brilliant replacement, which is good to have. Lots to work on as a bowling and fielding unit, so we will have good discussions about it.
