If it is a six…or a four…the ball is late to be released from the hands of the bowlers. It did not take much time to cross the boundary line. The fielders did not struggle much. The umpires did not lower their raised hand. The same Kottadu. In a nutshell, Sophie Devine played Gujarat’s bowlers like Shivamani played drums to AR Rahman’s music (99 off 36 balls, 9 fours, 8 sixes). Even though he played only 36 balls, the Gujarat bowlers were hit hard.
Half century in 20 balls.. then scored 49 runs in 16 balls and missed the century by just one run. Even if the century is lost, the huge target is blown. RCB achieved the target of 189 runs with the loss of only two wickets in 15.3 overs with Smriti Mandhana’s class to Divine Danchudu and Perry’s aggression. With this victory, Gujarat’s chances of play-off almost disappeared.
RCB started the big target with a bang. RCB scored 13 runs in the first over bowled by Kim Garth. Gardner’s second over was bowled by Devine. Devine hit 6, 4, 4, 6, 4 in that over. 24 runs were scored in the second over.
Mandhana (37 off 31 balls, 5 fours, 1 six) hit 6, 4 in the fourth over bowled by Tanuja Kanwar. RCB score crossed 50 runs after four overs. And in the fifth over bowled by Gujarat skipper Sneh Rana, Mandhana and Divine hit four fours each. After that, the same scene was repeated in Kim Garth’s bowling. Devine hit a four and a six in Gardner’s seventh over. Devine hit a huge six off the fifth ball of the 8th over bowled by Harleen Deol and scored a half century. She completed her half century in 20 balls. In the same over, RCB’s score crossed one hundred runs.
If you do that one run..
Even after a half-century, Devine displayed the same aggressiveness. Kanwar hit three sixes and a boundary in the 9th over. 25 runs were scored in this over. If we see the aggressiveness of Divine and Madhana, will both the openers break the target..? It seemed But in the tenth over bowled by Sneh Rana, she gave a catch to the second ball and left. Even though Mandhana was out, Divine did not stop biting. Ashwani Kumari hit a six and a four in the 11th over to get into the 90s. She took a four and three doubles in the 12th over bowled by Kim Garth.. She gave a catch to Ashwani Kumari one run before the century and turned back in despair. If she had scored that one run in this match, she would have created history as the first cricketer to score a century in WPL.
Elise Perry (19 not out) and Heather Knight (22 not out) completed the rest of the form despite Devine’s departure. With this win, RCB has no chance of playoffs, but the fans of the team, who were disappointed throughout the season, gave relief to the fans.
In this match, Gujarat Giants won the toss and took the batting. They made a huge score of 188 runs for the loss of four wickets in the allotted 20 overs. Opener Laura Volwardt (68), Ashley Gardner (41) and Sabbineni Meghna (31) excelled in that team.
