The Royal Challengers Bangalore skipper Smriti Mandhana looked into good touch on her debut WPL 2023 match, against Delhi Capitals, at the Brabourne Stadium, Mumbai, on Sunday evening as RCB kicked off their WPL campaign.
In the chase of a massive target of 224 runs – men’s or women’s RCB’s bowling remains a big headache for their fans – Mandhana got her side off to a flyer, smashing 35 runs in 23 balls with the help of 5 precisely placed boundaries and one powerful sixer.
However, her innings was ended via a soft dismissal, sort of even unlucky for Mandhana, caught down at short fine leg off the bowling of part-timer Alice Capsey.
During her innings though, the crowd at the Brabourne Stadium were given some entertainment by the beautiful shots from the RCB captain. The crowd, in fact, seemed to have specifically came to see Mandhana bat; there was a loud cheer when Mandhana came for the toss and chants of “Smriti Smriti” were also heard.
In the second over of RCB’s chase, Smriti Mandhana went after senior South African pacer Marizanne Kapp and launched the seamer for two fours and a six in the V down the ground. The left-handed opener had a big smile on her face after smoking Kapp for a bumper sixer over the bowler’s head, a shot she executed to the tee after shimming down the pitch. The crowd went into raptures at that shot.
Watch: Smriti Mandhana smashed Kapp for a glorious six:
Skipper @mandhana_smriti is on a mission 🫡
Some delightful strokes inside the powerplay as #RCB move to 54/1 after 6 overs
Follow the match ▶️ https://t.co/593BI7xKRy#TATAWPL | #RCBvDC pic.twitter.com/yYP6GdVtwK
— Women's Premier League (WPL) (@wplt20) March 5, 2023
It were the DC openers Shafali Verma and captain Meg Lanning who tore into the RCB bowling attack with their massive opening partnership of 162 runs in 14.3 overs.
After exploits from Shafali Verma and Lanning, Kapp hammered 39 (17) and Jemimah scored 22 (15) to take DC”s total to 223. Smriti Mandhana and her RCB team have a stiff chase at hand.
Teams:
Delhi Capitals Women (Playing XI): Shafali Verma, Meg Lanning(c), Marizanne Kapp, Jemimah Rodrigues, Alice Capsey, Jess Jonassen, Taniya Bhatia(w), Arundhati Reddy, Shikha Pandey, Radha Yadav, Tara Norris
Royal Challengers Bangalore Women (Playing XI): Smriti Mandhana(c), Sophie Devine, Heather Knight, Disha Kasat, Ellyse Perry, Richa Ghosh(w), Kanika Ahuja, Asha Shobana, Preeti Bose, Megan Schutt, Renuka Thakur Singh
