Smriti Mandhana's blistering knock of 81 powered the defending champions Royal Challengers Bengaluru to an easy win over Delhi Capitals at the Kotambi Stadium, Vadodara on Monday, February 17. Chasing 142, Bengaluru made light work of the Capitals bowlers to register an eight-wicket win in just 16.2 overs.
Mandhana slammed her best knock of WPL, bettering the 80 she made against UP Warriorz last year. She and Danni Wyatt-Hodge took the defending champions off to a flier and killed the game with their opening stand of 107. Mandhana unleashed her strokes at her best, middling almost everything she was hitting. The swashbuckling batter got to her half-century off 27 balls and kept motoring her way until she was caught at short fine-leg. By the time she was dismissed, RCB were almost home at 133, with only nine runs left.
Richa Ghosh and Ellyse Perry had a mini-stand. Ghosh enjoyed her brief outing of 11 as she hit a four and a six. The wicketkeeper batter took her team home with a six off Arundhati Reddy over fine-leg. The victory boosts RCB's Net run rate. They were already on top of the table and have now consolidated their spot at the top. From +0.869, RCB now have an NRR of +1.440.
The Capitals had earlier huffed and puffed to 141 before getting bowled out with three balls to go. They suffered a blow on the second ball of the match when Shafali Verma was caught at mid-off for a golden duck. While Jemimah Rodrigues and Meg Lanning put a fightback, they both went in quick succession on either side of the powerplay.
Sarah Bryce provided some late impetus, but the Capitals just kept losing wickets and were bowled out for 141. Renuka Singh was the pick of the bowlers, finishing her spell of four overs with figures of 3/23.
Delhi Capitals' Playing XI:
Meg Lanning (c), Shafali Verma, Jemimah Rodrigues, Annabel Sutherland, Jess Jonassen, Marizanne Kapp, Sarah Bryce (wk), Shikha Pandey, Radha Yadav, Arundhati Reddy, Minnu Mani
Royal Challengers Bengaluru's Playing XI:
Smriti Mandhana (c), Danielle Wyatt-Hodge, Ellyse Perry, Raghvi Bist, Richa Ghosh (wk), Kanika Ahuja, Georgia Wareham, Kim Garth, Ekta Bisht, Joshitha VJ, Renuka Thakur Singh