Royal Challengers Bangalore suffered loss by 11 runs to Gujarat Giants in the 6th match of the Women's Premier League on Wednesday. While Gujarat won the first match of their campaign, the Royal Challengersare yet to open their account in the tournament. With the win, Team Gujarat have jumped to the fourth place and Bangalore have slipped on the fifth position in the points table.
Coming to bat first, Gujarat registered 201/7 after 20 overs. The innings included brilliant half-centuries from Sophia Dunkley (65) and Harleen Deol (67). Their bowlers also did a fair job, restricting RCB to 190/6 in the second innings.
RCB opener Sophie Devine largely played a lone hand in their chase, she scored 66 off 45 balls. Towards the end, Heather Knight (30 not out off 11 balls) provided RCB a glimmer of hope, but the challenge of scoring 33 runs off the last two overs and 24 off the final over proved too much for the Bangalore side.
After conceding more than 200 runs for the second time in three matches so far in the WPL, RCB looked set to challenge the target. However, their opening partnership ended in just 5.1 overs with skipper Smriti Mandhana getting out for the seventh time by Ashleigh Gardner. Perry and Devine and Knight tried to stabilise the innings for RCB but the lack of boundaries resulted in pressure gradually increasing on them.
While the Royal Challengers Bangalore have their next match against UP Warriorz on March 10 and will want to bounce back, the Gujarat Giants will want to keep the momentum in their next game when they will face Delhi Capitals on March 11.
Also Read:
ICC Test Rankings: Ashwin suffers loss of 6 points, shares top spot with this bowler
