Smriti Mandhana returned to her pompous best, hammering away a match-defining 80 as she snatched the Orange Cap in style. Her current tally of 219 runs places her atop the rest while the closest one in pursuit is none other than her RCB teammate, Sabbhineni Meghana who is currently stationed at 164 runs.

The RCB-W skipper won the Player of the Match award for her defining role against UP Warriorz. Talking at the post-match presentation, Mandhana underlined how the match changed course and what was the exact mindset in the dressing room with every turn of the game.

She said, “We were under the pump after the last two games and we knew we had to get going today. Losing the toss didn’t help but there was a clear message to show intent straightaway. Everyone batted really well including Meghana at the top and then the bowlers came out and did their job.”

Shedding some light on the lifeline received and the innings knitted thereafter, Mandhana said, “Definitely got a little lucky on 26 but I’ll take that because we really wanted this win. The practice was really good and playing domestic helped. It was good preparation, once you get the feel you just need to pick which area to target.”

Smriti also shared some insight about the crucial partnership that she knitted with Pez, adding, “Me and Perry were saying to each other that we’ve played together for 10 matches but this was the first 50-run stand. We are both experienced enough to recognize which bowler to target. There wasn’t much chat, it was just about executing.”

She concluded by talking about defending the total, stating, “We never thought that we were out of the game, that’s how T20 cricket is. We were talking about how we would take wickets and come back. Different bowlers took pressure at different times and got the job done.”