Would tell the girls to keep their heads high – Smriti Mandhana

It was a nail-biting finish in Delhi as RCB-W fell to a defeat despite putting up a show to remember. Batting first, DC posted a staggering total of 181/5. Shreyanka Patil was the pick of the lot as she registered figures of 4/26. Chasing the big numbers on the board, RCB-W had their own hiccups but a grandstand flourish from Richa Ghosh and a persistent show of brilliance reigning supreme presented what one would call an absolute blockbuster but not enough to take the team over the line.

RCB-W captain, Smriti Mandhana, opened up at length in the post-match presentation as she highlighted the critical factors that defined the match while also pledging to keep on fighting with the heads held up high.

Mandhana said, “Tough loss to take. The way we were batting, the way Richa was going, brilliant innings and Shreyanka's last over was brilliant to watch.” 

She also heaped praises on Shreyanka Patil, adding, “She had a niggle, not that she was not dropped, a player of her quality there was no way of dropping. Really happy for her, especially the last over, showed a lot of character.”

Shedding some light on the batting order of RCB-W, Smriti stated, “Does not change the way I want to bat for sure. Would have loved to play today and maybe better. Does not change my mindset. Last 10 years of international cricket, had a few partners. We have seen a lot of Richa in WPL and international cricket, Perry was going well, unfortunately she got run out.”

The skipper concluded by saying, “The game could have gone anywhere in the last ball and good on Delhi as well to keep their nerve and win. One run does not make us a bad team. Good effort with the shorter boundary to restrict them to 180. We really believed that we could chase this down. Would tell the girls to keep their heads high and come back stronger the day after.”