Smriti Mandhana’s fighting 74 in vain as RCB suffer first loss in six-hitting fest

Royal Challengers Bangalore lost their first game of the Women’s Premier League 2024 season on Thursday, 29 February.

The home team, playing at the M Chinnaswamy Stadium did exceptionally well in their chase of 195 runs against Delhi Capitals. Chasing a record target, the RCB team came out all guns blazing and fell just short of target – by 25 runs against Meg Lanning’s team.

RCB were restricted to 169/9 after losing a flurry of wickets in the last 4 overs of the game.

It was a night for big hits as both teams hit a total of 19 sixes – a record in the WPL history. RCB accounted for 8 of those, but at the end of it, the target just became too much for the home side, despite Smriti Mandhana’s majestic 74 off just 43 balls.

Majestic Mandhana
Mandhana started aggressively in the first half of the second innings. With Sophie Devine struggling to find the gaps, the left-hander took the onus of scoring on herself and helped RCB cross 50 runs inside the powerplay.

Mandhana continued her onslaught, which helped Devine find her range. Devine played a decent cameo of 23 off 17 balls before getting out in the 9th over of the chase . Mandhana took centre stage while she was batting and hit her maiden WPL half-century in 32 deliveries. Just when things were looking interesting, the captain lost her wicket to Marizanne Kapp in the final ball of the 12th over of the game. This turned out to be a defining moment of the game, as it almost felt like RCB’s hopes had been taken away.

After Mandhana’s departure, Sabbhineni Meghana and Richa Ghosh tried to provide the impetus but were not able to do it for long. From 150/3, RCB lost a flurry of wickets in the final 4 overs and were restricted to 169 for the loss of 9 wickets.

Jess Jonassen was the pick among the bowlers and picked up 3 wickets for just 21 runs. But the backbone of the team was broken by Marizanne Kapp (2/35) who removed Mandhana and Richa Ghosh in the second innings.

Shafali’s Fifty
Earlier in the innings, Delhi Capitals started off well with Shafali Verma and Alice Capsey finding their range early in the innings. Shafali continued her form from the last game and notched up her second fifty of the tournament. Alongside her, Capsey hit some aggressive shots as well and got out for 46 off 33 runs.

The first innings of the game had moments where both teams controlled the game. After a blistering start in the first 10 overs, Delhi slowed down between 10-15, losing three wickets. Jemimah Rodrigues could not provide much to the batting and got out for a four-ball duck.

Delhi’s charge came in the final five overs of the match. Delhi hit 70 runs in the final 5 overs of the game, courtesy of Marizanne Kapp and Jess Jonasen. Kapp scored a rapid 32 off 16 balls, while Jonassen, playing her first match of the tournament, was one step ahead, hitting 36 off 16 balls.

The incredible onslaught helped the side reach 194 for the loss of 5 wickets, the highest total of the tournament so far. In the end, the score turned out to be big enough for the home side.

With the win, Meg Lanning’s team moved to the top of the points table with 4 points from 3 matches. The top three teams – DC, RCB and MI – have 4 points each, and are divided by NRR.