WPL 2023: Smriti Mandhana-led Royal Challengers Bangalore kickstarted their journey in the 2023 Women’s Premier League on a disappointing note as they suffered their second consecutive failure in the tournament.
After losing to Delhi Capitals (DC) by 60 runs in the first match on Sunday (March 5), RCB suffered their second defeat of the ongoing season at the hands of Mumbai Indians at the Brabourne Stadium in Mumbai on Monday (March 6).
RCB went down without a fight to the Harmanpreet-led side as they suffered a nine-wicket defeat to find themselves on the brink of last place. The only team with a worse Net Run Rate (NRR) than the RCB is the Gujarat Giants (-3.765). (-3.176). Even the Giants have lost both of their games thus far, like RCB.
Meanwhile, the Harmanpreet-led MI has impressively ascended to the top of the standings by winning both games thus far. Mumbai Indians kickstarted their journey in the WPL 2023 with a stunning 143-run win against Gujarat and they then continued their winning ways against RCB with a 9-wicket victory that came with 5.4 overs remaining unbeaten in the game.
Now after two convincing wins, MI currently has a fantastic NRR of +5.185, making them the favorite to win the championship.
Check out the updated points table of WPL 2023:
Orange Cap:
Mumbai Indians opener Haley Matthews is currently the top-scorer in the tournament, having scored 124 runs off two games so far in the tournament. In the second position, Delhi’s Shefali Verma is sitting after her stunning 84-run knock in DC’s tournament opener. Natalie Sciver is in the third spot, having played a brilliant knock of 55 in 29 balls against RCB on Monday.
Purple Cap:
Talking about the Purple Cap, it is also held by a Mumbai Indians player — Saika Ishaque, who has been sensational with the ball. Saika has so far picked 6 wickets, giving away only 37 runs off her 7.1 overs in two games.
