Sophia Dunkley, Harleen Deol Shine in Gujarat Giants’ Victory Against Smriti Mandhana’s RCB

Smriti Mandhana-led RCB taste their third defeat after another ordinary bowling performance. Entering their third game of the WPL, both Royal Challengers Bangalore and Gujarat Giants were still hunting for their first win for the season.

However, it was Sophia Dunkley and Harleen Deol who stepped up for Gujarat Giants to hand RCB their third consecutive loss in the WPL on Wednesday.

Opting to bat first at the Brabourne Stadium in Mumbai, Gujarat posted a formidable total of 201/7 with Dunkley (65 off 28) and Deol’s (67 off 45) big contributions. For RCB, New Zealand’s Sophie Devine put in a hard effort to get a 45-ball 66 but it wasn’t enough as RCB finished with 190/6 and lost by 11 runs.

Gujarat Started Slow But Cruised Past 200 Comfortably

Megan Schutt gave RCB a strong start by bowling a maiden over to opener S Meghana. But Dunkley quickly took over and manipulated the field fiercely to pick up boundaries on either side of the pitch. The English right-hander hit left-arm spinner Preeti Bose for four fours and a six in the fifth over to reach a stunning fifty.

Dunkley departed in the eighth over with comfortable with Gujarat 82/2 and Deol, the Indian right-hander who wasn’t at her best in recent weeks took her time to settle in scoring 22 off 24. Soon, Schutt was hit for a six and four and Deol went on to add 38 runs off just 16 balls.

For RCB, it was another forgettable outing with the ball. They had conceded 223/2 in their first match against Delhi Capitals, 159/1 in just 14.2 overs against Mumbai Indians, and let more than 200 against Gujarat too.

RCB Fell Short of target

In reply, RCB were off to a promising start in the chase as skipper Smriti Mandhana and Devine came to the crease with great intent. They brought up their fifty-run stand off just 27 deliveries as Devine smacked Aussie pacer Annabel Sutherland for a hat-trick of fours.

Mandhana was soon dismissed for 18 off 14. The left-hander misjudged Australian off-spinner Ashleigh Gardner and miscued it to mid-on. Ellyse Perry was in next and got a good start but ended up cutting one from Mansi Joshi to point and was out for 32 off 25. Wicketkeeper Richa Ghosh hit a couple of fours but was cleaned up by Gardner.

Devine struck some clean blows and kept RCB but after leaving in the 17th over. England’s Heather Knight (30* off 11) and Shreyanka Patil (11* off 4) took the contest to the last over but Bangalore fell short.

Gardner showed her class for Gujarat with figures of 3/31, ably supported by Tanuja Kanwar, who returned with economical figures of 0/28 in a high-scoring game.

The defeat put RCB in a precarious position. With only three teams to advance in the five-team competition, Mandhana’s RCB are left with nearly no room for error going forward.