Giants emerge victorious in Round 2 as RCB falter despite fighting performance

It turned out to be another tough night in the office for the Royal Challengers Bengaluru as they were outplayed by the Gujarat Giants. A shaky start in the powerplay left them rattled and despite a good fight from a handful of players, they could only manage to push the inevitable as the Giants walked away with the bragging rights.

Winning the toss, Gujarat Giants opted to field first. RCB lost the cream of their batting in no time whatsoever. Smriti Mandhana (10), Danni Wyatt-Hodge (4) and Ellyse Perry (0) couldn’t really get the ball rolling. It was the young duo of Raghvi Bist (22) and Kanika Ahuja (33) who pushed the Giants back momentarily.

They added 48 runs for the third wicket but once again losing wickets in clusters, RCB lost momentum and could eventually manage 125 runs on the board. Georgia Wareham fought hard to pile up a crucial 20 with help from Kim Garth, who managed to knit together 14 runs.

The Giants had a slow start as Renuka Singh kept things under control. With a couple of crucial wickets in the form of Beth Mooney (17) and Dayalan Hemlatha (11), Singh did open up a slender window of opportunity. However, Ashleigh Gardner’s 58 left the hosts stranded while Phoebe Litchfield’s valiant 30 saw them across the line.

Renuka Singh and Wareham did put up a fine show of resilience but with limited runs on the board, there wasn’t much that they could have done. The duo registered four wickets between them as the Giants won the match by six wickets.