We will come back stronger: Smriti Mandhana after RCB’s defeat against DC

RCB endured a relatively poor start to their WPL campaign as they lost to the Delhi Capitals in both the teams’ first match of the ongoing tournament.

Chasing a mammoth 223, RCB got off to a decent start, but failures in the middle order put the team on the back foot. Despite a late surge in the end, it was a little too much to do for RCB and they fell short by 60 runs.

RCB captain Smriti Mandhana started off very fluently and notched up a 23-ball 35 with five fours and one six before she offered a catch to Shikha Pandey at short fine leg. Despite handy knocks from her and a few more down the order, RCB’s batting unit couldn’t get past the line.

The RCB skipper opened up on the defeat in the post-match presentation, where she said - “Definitely not the start we wanted. We gave 20-30 runs extra. We'll think about our plans and come back stronger tomorrow. As a pace bowling unit, we didn't go pace off like Delhi did so that's one thing we need to think of and work on.”

She further added, “We are used to playing in other franchises back to back but for us to take positives out of this and things that didn't go our way, we have a few hours to think about it and come back stronger tomorrow.”

Mandhana concluded by saying, “I don't think the pitch or wicket changed. Our batters, we all got starts but couldn't continue. Batters got starts like me and Heather but we couldn't take it over."

RCB will be back on the field later today as they take on the Mumbai Indians in both sides’ second match of the WPL 2023 season.