WPL 2023: Gujarat Clinch First Win as RCB Struggles On

On Wednesday, Gujarat Giants‘ fortunes finally turned around in the Women’s Premier League (WPL), as they notched their first victory in three matches with a resounding 11-run win against Royal Challengers Bangalore. Their batsmen Sophia Dunkley and Harleen Deol starred earlier on, with outstanding half-centuries of 65 and 67 respectively to take their side to an impressive total of 201 for 7 at the end of their innings. RCB didn’t give up without a fight – opener Sophie Devine put up a masterful performance scoring 66 from 45 balls with eight fours and two sixes, but it wasn’t enough to overcome the target set by the Gujarat Giants. This defeat marked RCB’s third successive loss in WPL thus far.

RCB were on an upward trajectory going into the later stages of the game thanks to a superb knock from Heather Knight; her 30 not out off 11 balls provided a much needed spark of hope. However, the task that lay ahead for RCB was steep, as they had to score just over 30 runs in the final two overs and 24 in the last one alone. Unfortunately, their star batswoman Smriti Mandhana disappointed yet again by only managing 18 runs before being bowled out. Perry had a solid start and made 32 runs, but an important 43 run partnership with Devine could not propel RCB any further. Although RCB set up nicely through Devine’s aggression and Mandhana‘s support during the powerplay, it was ultimately not enough and GG surpassed them in the end.

With the replacement of Rana with Annabel Sutherland, New Zealand batter, Kim Garth was on strike and got hit for a few fours in the third over. The right-hander then went on to score three more boundaries off Annabel Sutherland in the fifth over as the innings once again gained momentum. Chasing an imposing total of 164, Gujarat had to press their foot on the pedal if they wanted to make amends in their round-robin clash against RCB, who were leading the table at that point of time. But soon enough, Gujarat lost one of their top order batters as Perry hit Ashleigh Gardner for a maximum which was caught by Mansi Joshi into mid-on, drawing curtains to a productive opening stand.

Perry and Devine kept the ship steady for RCB until the 12th over, when the boundaries were finally broken. Joshi’s delivery was easily dispatched by Perry, who cracked two fours off of him, amassing 32 runs in 25 balls with five fours in total. Unfortunately he wasn’t able to hit another boundary before being caught straight off a third man fielder. The pressure had been steadily building on Devine as RCB needed 85 runs in the last six overs at a daunting rate of 14 per over. Fortunately with just one ball into the 14th over Devine stepped out and hit an incredible six against Tanuja Kanwar that would have given RCB back some much needed confidence and breathing space heading into the rest of their innings.

Gujarat Giants put forth a formidable batting performance, as they made heavy work of the RCB bowling lineup. England’s Dunkley knocked an aggressive 65 from 28 balls and Deol simply dazzled with her innings of 67 off 45 balls. This partnership provided the foundation needed for the Giants to set a demanding total of 173 in their 20 overs. Gardner, however, came along and made life hard for RCB by cleaning up the hard hitting Richa Ghosh for 10 in the finale – after Beth Mooney elected to remain off the field – leaving RCB needing 77 runs off just 5 overs. Dunkley proved spectacularly entertaining as she recorded not just her 50th run at an astonishing strike rate of 232.1 but also clobbered 11 fours and 3 sixes to record the fastest fifty in the WPL so far.

Deol had an incredible performance at the Brabourne Stadium in Mumbai, leading RCB to huge totals in two fifty-plus stands. She scored a total of 113 runs and moved up to third on the list of most run-scorers in WPL. Deol also received two lifelines late in her innings, further helping her team reach huge scores. Her prowess was on full display as she welcomed Renuka Singh with an elegant lofted six over the cover region. It was an overall outstanding performance by Deol, proving why she is one of the best players in WPL.

England’s batter had one hitman in her sights in the fifth over – Washington Sundar of Royal Challengers Bangalore. Not willing to let any ball go to waste, she took full advantage and put every delivery to its optimal use, smacking four boundaries and a six off the spinner for a total of 23 runs which brought her 18-ball 50. She ran off nine fours and two glorious sixes during this rampage before Shreyanka Patil was able to bring some semblance of normalcy back, getting the better of Dunkley mid-over by catching her out at long off.