Georgia Wareham’s valiant fight stands out in RCB-W’s loss against Gujarat Giants

Despite a defeat in the opening chapter of Delhi, the Royal Challengers Bangalore Women fought till the very end, braving an early landslide with the bat to try and script what could have been a remarkable thriller in the making. Winning the toss, Gujarat skipper Beth Mooney opted to bat first against RCB.

A shuffle in the batting order for the Giants threw the RCB bowlers completely off-guard as two of the finest batters in women’s cricket, Laura Wolvaardt and Mooney, were off to a flier. Wolvaardt was the initial aggressor, leading the charge with an imperious 76 off just 45 balls while Mooney (85*) motored along perfectly until then.

It was some electric fielding from seasoned war-horse Ekta Bisht that got RCB their maiden breakthrough in the match. Despite getting the better of Wolvaardt, the Gujarat juggernaut had no intentions of stalling their scoring rate. Phoebe Litchfield anchored one end while Mooney showed her class at the other. Once again some clean fielding from Mandhana allowed RCB to get rid of Phoebe, with Richa Ghosh continuing to impress with her glovework.

With a score north of 190 achieved in the penultimate over already, a possible 210 plus was lurking on the horizon but some tight bowling in the final few balls of the innings restrained the Giants completely. Wareham sent back Ashleigh Gardner for a golden duck while Sophie Molineux got rid of Dayalan Hemlathan for cheap. RCB finished on a high as an incoming Veda Krishnamurthy fell short of the crease with Ekta affecting another run-out. At the end of 20 overs, Mandhana and company were staring at a mammoth total of 200 to be shot down.

The chase obviously needed a solid start and the captain obliged. Smriti Mandhana came out blasting on all cylinders while Meghana opted to anchor the innings early on. However, as they say, you live by the sword, you die by it too and Mandhana’s fate was no different. Trying to pull a ball from Gardner, Smriti was trapped before the stumps for a feisty 24.

Meghana went back in no time as well as she was stuttering towards the crease while Laura Wolvaardt struck timbre with her gun throw. Ellyse Perry and Sophie Devine picked up the onus of rebuilding the innings but the process took them longer than anticipated. As the asking rate kept climbing, trying to up the ante, Devine fell for 23 while Perry departed for 24 after putting on a show with some big shots.

Richa Ghosh and Georgia Wareham took over the reins from thereon. Ghosh constructed a well-fought 30 while Wolfie kept on blitzing the GG bowlers relentlessly. Rocking a 22-ball-48 that featured six fours and two sixes, Wareham was the leading act for RCB. With one over to go, Ekta Bisht walked in and smashed a six as she stayed unbeaten for 12 off 5 balls and eventually, RCB-W slumped down to a 19-run defeat.