Vadodara, Jan 19 (IANS) Sayali Satghare’s impressive three-wicket burst, along with a strong batting performance led by Gautami Naik, propelled Royal Challengers Bengaluru Women (RCB-W) to their sixth straight win in the Women’s Premier League (WPL) as they defeated Gujarat Giants by 61 runs in the 12th match at Kotambi Stadium in Vadodara on Monday.
This decisive victory not only gave RCB five wins out of five matches this season, securing their spot in the playoffs, but also set a new record for the most consecutive wins in WPL history at six. This surpassed previous streaks of five by the Mumbai Indians in 2023 and 2023-24, as well as RCB’s own streak in 2024-25.
Earlier in the evening, RCB were asked to bat first by Gujarat Giants skipper Ashleigh Gardner and, much like the reverse fixture, their innings got off to a shaky start.
In the opening over of the match, Grace Harris was dismissed by Renuka Singh Thakur after scoring one run, and Georgia Voll was subsequently dismissed by Kashvee Gautam in the next over, putting RCB under pressure right at the beginning. Captain Smriti Mandhana was joined by Gautami Naik as the two players worked to stabilise the team’s innings up until the end of the powerplay.
After suffering two early dismissals for only nine runs, RCB went on to score 39 runs in the first six overs. Mandhana and Naik then put on a very important 60-run partnership off 45 balls before finally breaking at 10 runs in the tenth over when Gardner brought herself into the bowling attack to trap Mandhana LBW out for 26 runs scored from 23 balls.
Naik stayed strong through that time and moved on to anchor RCB’s innings, contributing to a magnificent 69-run partnership with Richa Ghosh for the fourth wicket until Naik made her maiden WPL half-century off 42 balls. Naik eventually got out for a well-played 73 off 55 balls. Richa contributed to RCB’s excellent overall innings with her innings of 27 runs off 20 balls, and some quick innings by Radha Yadav and Shreyanka Patil added to RCB’s innings total of 178 runs scored off 20 overs.
RCB put up an incredibly aggressive performance right from the start of the defence. Sayali Satghare took full advantage of this aggression with a stunning two-wicket over in the second over. Satgarhe’s extraordinary achievements were accomplished when she caught both players, Beth Mooney (3 runs) and Sophie Devine (0 runs). In the next over, Lauren Bell joined the RCB attack, taking out Kanika Ahuja on just her third ball of her second, leaving Gujarat in dire straits, 5 for 3 at the end of three overs.
Although Anushka Sharma and Gardner attempted to rekindle the innings through some decent batting, a run partnership of 29 runs off 25 balls between them for the 4th wicket did not last as Nadine de Klerk’s great bowling helped her take Anushka out, having made 18 runs off 20 balls. The wickets continued to tumble for Gujarat as RCB continued to apply extreme pressure with their bowling and fielding.
Even though Gardner found success fighting back from the long beginning and eventually scored her half-century from 39 balls, she only finished the match scoring 54 runs off her 43 balls due to the lack of assistance from anyone on the opposite end.
In the end, Gujarat Giants could only score 117 runs for 8 wickets in their 20 overs. Satghare stood out among the bowlers with figures of 3 for 21, highlighting a strong team effort as Nadine de Klerk chipped in with 2 for 21.
Brief scores:
Royal Challengers Women 178/6 in 20 overs (Gautami Naik 73, Richa Ghosh 27; Ashleigh Gardner 2-43, Kashvee Gautam 2-38) beat Gujarat Giants Women 117/8 in 20 overs (Ashleigh Gardner 54, Anushka Sharma 18; Sayali Satghare 3-21, Nadine de Klerk 2-21) by 61 runs
–IANS
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