Vadodara, Feb 17 After defending champions Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) completed a dominating eight-wicket thrashing of Delhi Capitals to go on top of the Women's Premier League (WPL) 2025 points table, skipper Smriti Mandhana lauded the bowlers for doing a great job in restricting their opponents to below 150.
At the Kotambi Stadium on Monday, pacer Renuka Singh Thakur and leg-spinner Georgia Wareham picked three wickets each in an impressive bowling performance from RCB as they bowled out DC for 141. The duo got good support from Kim Garth and Ekta Bisht, who picked two wickets each.
In reply, led by Smriti’s scintillating 81, her highest WPL score, RCB completed the chase with 22 balls to spare. “Very pleased. The bowlers did a great job restricting DC to below 150. In fielding we saved 15-20 runs. And then Danni was great. The strategy was to bowl more pace. Depending on the conditions.”
“Baroda doesn't play twice the same way. Renuka and Joshitha were great. As a team, we are proud. Ekta as well, was great. Danni and I know each other well. The bowlers did a great job. We kept going on, and the runs came,” said Smriti after the match ended.
Renuka, whose spell of 3-23 also got her the Purple Cap, credited the hard work on improving her fitness levels as the reason behind her good performances. “Very happy memories on this ground. I had won two Player of the Match Awards here in the last series I played. “
“I have worked a lot on my bowling. I am now also working on my pace and outswing. I focus on my body. Sometimes I bowl wide of the crease, and then I tend to go down leg, so I get closer to stumps and correct my lines.”
Danni Wyatt-Hodge, who shared a 107-run opening stand with Smriti, said the duo always planned to go hammer and tongs from the word go.
“We wanted to do two from two and we did it. I had the best seat in the house there with Smriti going the way she was. The bowling was great, and so was our catching.”
“She keeps me very calm. She was my coach tonight which was helpful. We played for Southern Brave, we know each other's games. RCB is a great franchise, they have been very welcoming. Surface was on the slower side. She kept telling me to get forward, I was staying back. She just batted so well tonight. It is a pleasure to bat with her.”
The eight-wicket mauling of DC is something captain Meg Lanning was disappointed at and she said the batters weren’t at their best tonight.
“Not our best night. We got off to a reasonable start, but we lost wickets too quickly. RCB bowled well to peg us back. Disappointing. The batters got in at times, but couldn't carry on. Not our best night.”
“We can improve a lot from game one. We had a lot of fights there. Tonight wasn't our best night. A lot of things to look forward to and we need to come back strongly. It did get better to bat in the evening. But RCB picked their chances. They bowled well as well. The dew didn't play a part. RCB were too good tonight,” she said.
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