Two games, two losses – hardly the start both the Royal Challengers Bangalore and Gujarat Giants would have hoped for in the inaugural edition of the Women’s Premier League.
The two sides, desperate for that first win of WPL 2023, clash at the Brabourne Stadium on Wednesday.
While two games in the span of four days is hardly enough time to make quality assessments, the Giants have been the more improved of the two teams going by performances. The tournament opener saw Gujarat suffer a 143-run drubbing at the hands of table-leader Mumbai Indians, exposing every possible deficiency the side had.
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The Giants were sloppy on the field. Despite a semblance of control over proceedings early on, the bowlers lost the plot and skipper Beth Mooney was left scrambling to find someone who could provide a breakthrough. Things were no better with the bat as Mooney twisted her left knee in the very first over, taking her out of not just that match but also a few more games. Quick wickets, rising pressure and an imbalanced line-up meant the Giants meekly surrendered for just 64.
Their second game against UP Warriorz saw a much better showing. While the ‘Sophia Dunkley for Beth Mooney’ swap did not yield astronomical results, it seems prudent to continue with the English batter given her prowess as an opener. She also gives the team a leg spin option. Sneh Rana, who took over as the captain, looked calm and in control of her resources, a stark change from Mooney in the first game. Hardly surprising this, given her experience with the Railways in the Indian domestic scene. The masterstroke, though, was the inclusion of Kim Garth. The Irish-Aussie pacer dismantled the Warriorz response before her compatriot Grace Harris snatched the game away from them in the death with an adrenaline-filled 26-ball 59 to seal the match in the very last over.
Meanwhile, Smriti Mandhana’s captaincy has come under the scanner with RCB falling to two sorry losses in two games. In an outfit filled with superstars, it’s not a paucity of resources but how they’re used that’s been the issue.
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RCB was outclassed by Meg Lanning’s Delhi Capitals by 60 runs in its tournament opener. Heather Knight picked up both the wickets RCB managed that evening and the likes of Megan Schutt, Renuka Singh Thakur, Ellyse Perry and Preeti Bose failed to pose any serious challenge to the Delhi batters. The batting did not do any better. Despite a positive start by Mandhana and Sophie Devine, the rest of the players failed to convert starts into meaningful scores. The game against Mumbai unfolded in similar fashion, although RCB batted first. Mumbai, riding on fifties from Hayley Matthews and Nat Sciver-Brunt, cantered to an easy nine-wicket win to consolidate its spot at the top of the table.
RCB and the Giants have power-packed squads, but both need to focus on channelling that fire in their performances. Converting assured starts, staying calm when the going gets tough and ensuring the basics go unbothered - clean fielding, strike rotation - will hold the teams in good stead as they wait to get off the mark.
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