RCBW vs GGT WPL 2023: The Royal Challengers Bangalore on Saturday muscled the Gujarat Giants at the Brabourne Stadium in Mumbai to register their second win of the tournament. Sophie Devine played a jawdropping knock of 99 runs off just 36 balls to steer her side to an emphatic 8-wicket win in the 16th match of the tournament. With this win, Bangalore have managed to win their second game of the tournament and are staying alive in the tournament.
The Challengers were asked to chase 189-run target in their reverse fixture against Gujarat and the batters, led by Devine, blew away the opposition left, right and center. Meanwhile, Smriti Mandhana also contributed on the night as she scored 37 and supported Devine in the chase.
Delhi Capitals qualify for the playoffs
The Delhi Capitals side has qualified for the playoffs as they have 8 points from 6 games. They become the second team after Mumbai Indians to book a berth for the knockouts. The maximum that Gujarat and Bangalore can now get is 6, so they will finish in top three at any cost. Now the fight is for the last remaining spot between Royal Challengers Bangalore, Gujarat Giants and UP Warriorz.
In the GGT vs RCBW match, Gujarat Giants won the toss and opted to bat first. Captain Sneh Rana was off the view that 160-165 would be a par score but her team did not get the best of the starts with Dunkley falling in the 3rd over. But Wolvaardt and S Meghana steadied the ship as both the batters anchored the middle phase. Wolvaardt continued to shine as she smashed her second fifty in the tournament (68 runs off 42 balls), while Meghana scored 31 from 32 balls. Ash Gardner also provided the much needed impetus with a 26-ball 41 but Hemlatha and Harleen Deol helped the Giants reach 188 with 16 and 12 run knocks, respectively.
In reply, the Banglore side went all guns blazing as the opening pair of Smriti Mandhana and Sophie Devine muscled the opposition. Devine got 24 runs in the second over of the innings off Ash Gardner and that hinted of what was to come. Devine went after everybody in the field and smashed boundaries for for fun. The RCB side got 77 off the first six overs, where Devine scored 36 of those runs. She got off to her fifty in just 20 balls and then kept her assualt going. In the ninth over of Tanuja Kanwar, Devine scored 25 runs as the Giants side then stared a big defeat. The duo shared an opening wicket stand of 125. Even though, Gaints got Mandhana and Devine in space of around 2 overs, Bangalore had almost reached home. Heather Knight and Elyyse Perry remained unbeaten on 17 and 18, repsectively to help Bangalore win in 15.3 overs.
RCB's Playing XI:
Sophie Devine, Smriti Mandhana (c), Ellyse Perry, Heather Knight, Richa Ghosh (wk), Kanika Ahuja, Shreyanka Patil, Disha Kasat, Megan Schutt, Asha Shobana, Preeti Bose
GGT's Playing XI:
Sophia Dunkley, Laura Wolvaardt, Harleen Deol, Ashleigh Gardner, Dayalan Hemalatha, Sabbhineni Meghana, Sushma Verma (wk), Kim Garth, Sneh Rana (c), Tanuja Kanwar, Ashwani Kumar
