Toss Royal Challengers Bangalore chose to bowl vs Giants of Gujarat
The result was much to the delight of the local crowd who once again packed the stadium in numbers. Mandhana confirmed that there were no changes in the RCB team from the first match where they beat UP Warriorz in a last-ball thriller.
“It’s always good to know what you’re chasing in T20 cricket,” Mandhana said at the toss. “Short overs are always great to win. We have to keep things simple and go out and play our best brand of cricket.”
Gujarat Giants, last season’s wooden spoons, had a less than ideal start to WPL 2024 where they went down heavily on Mumbai Indians. Despite the defeat, they stayed with the same combination and did not change. This meant that there was still no place for Laura Wolvaardt in the starting line-up.
Mooney said her team didn’t go overboard with the crowd and rather wanted to embrace it. “We have to believe in the method and not worry about the results,” he said.
The pitch is the same as the one used for the match between UP Warriorz and Delhi Capitals on Monday. There was a little help for the fast bowlers early on with the surface on the sluggish side.
A win could well help RCB climb to the top of the table, while Giants will be very much hoping to get on the board.
Royal Challengers Bangalore: 1 Smriti Mandhana (capt), 2 Sophie Devine, 3 S Meghana, 4 Ellyse Perry, 5 Richa Ghosh (wk), 6 Sophie Molineux, 7 Georgia Wareham, 8 Shreyanka Patil, 9 Simran Bahadur, 10 Sobhana Ashakaingh, 11
Giants of Gujarat: 1 Beth Mooney (capt and week), 2 Veda Krishnamurthy, 3 Harleen Deol, 4 Phoebe Litchfield, 5 Ashleigh Gardner, 6 Dayalan Hemalatha, 7 Sneh Rana, 8 Tanuja Kanwar, 9 Kathryn Bryce, 10 Leaing Tahu