We started on a high and finished on a high – Smriti Mandhana

RCB dished out a fine performance in Brabourne as they drubbed Mumbai Indians in a thrilling encounter to conclude their latest WPL campaign. Smriti Mandhana got off to a flyer with the bat, blasting 53 off just 37 balls, laying the foundation of a big finish in place. Talking at the post-match presentation, Smriti pointed out the key takeaways from the season while also decoding their game against the Mumbai Indians.

Sharing insights about the season, Smriti said, “We just discussed that. We started on a high and finished on a high but midway we lost a lot of momentum. Not having your five or six players in the playing XI, especially all the bowlers. But the way we started we felt it wouldn't be a huge thing. Lots of tosses did not go our way but in cricket we can't say all that. We did not step up and that's something everyone will learn and improve.”

She then shifted her thoughts to the last game against Mumbai Indians, stating, “Whenever I was thinking of getting of another bowler, Nat was going on and hit 12 an over. Joshitha and Prema are great bowlers but in those situations experience is what gets us through. Today we just wanted to go out and play positive cricket, it happens in cricket that you are not in form and not scoring runs but being in touch and not getting runs was eating me up but happy to have contributed today.”

Smriti concluded with a message for the fans, adding, “They are best fans for a reason, you play at Mumbai, Baroda, Lucknow, of course Bangalore is home, they are always chanting. Winning or losing they keep backing the team. One instance we lost 4 games in Bangalore, we were losing, still the crowd were going RCB. RCB. As a team we have let them down but hopefully we will pick up next year.”