WPL 2023, GG vs RCB: Gujarat Giants Beat Royal Challengers Bangalore By 11 Runs For 1st Win

Giants beat Royal Challengers Bangalore by 11 runs to secure their first win of the Women's Premier League in Mumbai on Wednesday.

Gujarat Giants handed Royal Challengers Bangalore their third consecutive defeat in the Women's Premier League (WPL) in Mumbai on Wednesday, winning a high-scoring contest by 11 runs to record their first victory in three matches. After splendid half-centuries from Sophia Dunkley (65) and Harleen Deol (67) propelled Gujarat Giants to a strong 201 for 7 after batting first, their bowlers did a fair job, restricting RCB to 190 for 6 in their 20 overs. RCB opener and New Zealand batter Sophie Devine largely played a lone hand in their chase, hitting a well-made 66 from 45 balls with eight fours and two sixes. Towards the end, Heather Knight (30 not out off 11 balls) provided RCB a glimmer of hope, but the challenge of scoring 33 runs off the last two overs and 24 off the final over proved too much for the Bangalore side.

RCB's star batter and captain Smriti Mandhana flopped once again, falling for 18 while Ellyse Perry (32) also could not score big despite getting a start and forming a vital partnership of 43 runs with Devine for the second wicket.

"Even in our bowling, we gave away 10-15 runs more than what we expected to. There were two three overs where we conceded a lot, and not 6-7 runs," Mandhana said after the match.

"We would have gotten better (with the target) otherwise. It's a good outfield, one end is really short, that did play with few of our bowlers' in mind, we are trying to work on it." After conceding more than 200 runs for second time in three matches so far in the WPL, RCB looked set to challenge the target set by Gujarat Giants when Devine took the aggressive route and Mandhana played the second fiddle in the powerplay.

The right-handed New Zealand batter hit Kim Garth for a couple of fours in the third over and got three boundaries against Annabel Sutherland in the fifth.