Mumbai: The Gujarat Giants beat the Royal Challengers Bangalore by 11 runs at the Brabourne Stadium in Mumbai to register their maiden win in the inaugural editon of the Women's Premier League at the Brabourne Stadium in Mumbai.
While Sophia Dunkley's fastest WPL half-century off 18 balls (65 off 28) coupled with another half-century from Harleen Deol (67 off 45) helped the Gujarat Giants post a target of 202 runs for Bangalore, in response even though Sophie Devine scored a half-century (66 from 45) and Heather Knight (30*) played a bit of a cameo towards the end, Bangalore eventually ended their 20 overs at 190/6.
For Bangalore, Shreyanka Patil picked up 2 wickets and removed both the batters who had crossed the 50-run mark. Heather Knight also scalped 2 wickets in her 2 overs. Heather Knight and Megan Schutt were also among the wicket-takers, ending with a wicket each. Patil, who conceded 32 runs in her 4 overs, was also the most ecomonical Bangalore bowler.
Gujarat bowlers too did not have the best of days in what was a high-scoring game but did enough to defend their score. Ashleigh Gardner scalped 3 wickets for 31 runs and was the stand-out performer. Annabel Sutherland went for 56 runs in her 4 overs but returned with 2 wickets.
After the match, Bangalore captain Smirti Mandhana said that they could have bowlerd better in the powerplay where they conceded 64 runs, having taken just 1 wicket. She lauded the team's batting effort as they came close to the mammoth total but just couldn't get over the finish line.
The result means RCB remain the only team yet to taste a win in the Women's Premier League with 3 out of 3 losses. They will play their next match against the UP Warriorz who are yet to be beaten in the competition but will take on another unbeaten side in WPL 2023 Mumbai Indians before their encounter against Bangalore on Friday.