Bengaluru: On a weekday evening, braving the city traffic, over 25,000 Royal Challengers Bangalore fans were at the M Chinnaswamy stadium rooting for their team. Amidst the din the only quiet corner at the venue was the Gujarat Giants’ dugout. Starting with the toss, where RCB skipper Smriti Mandhana called right and opted to field, the nightmare outing ended in an eight-wicket loss for the Giants on Tuesday.
RCB’s charge was led by pacer Renuka Singh (2/14) and left-arm spinner Sophie Molineux (3/25), who tore into the Giants’ batting line-up. It took a late flourish — 25-ball 31 — from D Hemalatha for the Gujarat outfit to muster 107/7.
In reply, Smriti led the swift victory march with a 27-ball 43 (8x4; 1x6). With an eye on the run-rate, RCB completed the chase with 45 balls to spare. With a paltry score to defend, Giants did not have enough ammunition in the bowling line-up to threaten the opposition. This was apparent in the opening over, when Smriti started the proceedings with a fine drive to the backward point and then pulled Lea Tahuhu through midwicket off the next.
The only time Giants would have fancied a comeback was when Ashleigh Gardner dismissed Sophie Devine (6). That and the dismissal of Smriti in the ninth over turned out to be minor blips as Meghana (36 n.o) and Ellyse Perry (23 n.o) saw the team home, with the latter finding the fine-leg boundary ropes for the winning runs
Beth Mooney’s team, which suffered a five-wicket loss to Mumbai Indians in their season opener, were never in the game. With just seven runs coming off the first two overs, Mooney decided to up the tempo but was done in by an in-swinger from Renuka, which plucked out her off-stump.
Renuka, who tested the batters with a line which was just outside-off, finished her quota of overs with the wicket of Phoebe Litchfield, who was beaten and way off the crease making way for a regulation stumping for wicketkeeper Richa Ghosh.
That happened in the seventh over and Gujarat batters failed to counter RCB’s discipline and bowling strategies of utilising seven bowlers. While the guile of Molineux was hard to read, Giants sunk further with poor running between the wickets and errors in judgement.
Brief scores: Gujarat Giants: 107/7 in 20 overs (Hemalatha 31 n.o; Renuka Singh 2-14, Sophie Molineux 3-25) lost to Royal Challengers Bangalore: 110/2 in 12.3 overs (Smriti Mandhana 43, S Meghana 36 n.o).
Stay updated with the latest news on Times of India. Don't miss daily games like Crossword, Sudoku, and Mini Crossword.Manuja Veerappa is a sports and features writer with 19 years of ...
Read MoreManuja Veerappa is a sports and features writer with 19 years of experience. She has covered a repertoire including World Cups in cricket and hockey, Commonwealth Games and world championships in billiards and snooker among other major events. An alumnus of one of Bangalore's most prestigious institutions, Bishop Cotton Girls' School, she represented Karnataka in hockey at the national-level.
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