WPL 2024: Gujarat Giants Open Account With Massive Win Over Royal Challengers Bangalore as Openers Shine

Gujarat Giants finally got off the mark in Delhi’s Arun Jaitley Stadium after defeating Royal Challengers Bangalore by 19 runs.

Gujarat Giants were winless when they landed in Delhi for the second phase of the WPL 2024. Their first fixture in this second leg was against the Royal Challengers Bangalore at the Arun Jaitley Stadium who had already defeated them once in the tournament and were also coming into this game on the back of a good win against UP Warriorz.

Still waiting to get off the mark, the Giants probably had just one option and that was to go all guns blazing in this encounter against RCB. They did exactly what the doctor ordered.

After trying different combinations in the opening slot, the Gujarat franchise had finally found a pair in Laura Wolvaardt and Beth Mooney who could at least provide them with a brisk start.

The duo joined hands at the perfect time. GGT after winning the toss elected to bat first and Wolvaardt and Mooney took advantage of the conditions that looked decently good for the batters.

Wolvaardt started off in a brilliant manner as the Giants managed to gather 13 in the very first over. They followed it with 12 in the second and by the time the powerplay was over, the opening pair had put up 59 on the board with Wolvaardt scoring the majority of runs.

A team that had been struggling in almost all the departments before this game seemed to have a plan in place. The two openers didn’t shy away from hitting the ones in their arc to the boundary ropes and put the pressure on the opposition to showcase thorough dominance. Things moved away from RCB’s grip a bit more when they gave away 45 runs in a span of just three overs.

The 10^th over that was bowled by Ellyse Perry saw them getting hit for 15 including three boundaries on the trot. Wolvaardt struck the first ball of the over through mid-on for the first four, the second one back past the stumps and the third one went for another boundary, courtesy of a thick outside edge that went through the short third-man region.

RCB then gave away 14 runs in the 11^th over and followed it with 16 in the 12^th. What was more concerning for RCB was the way Ekta Bisht bowled the 12^th over.

Wolvaardt scored a boundary on the very first ball towards the deep backward square leg. The next one was a dot ball. The third one was wide after Bisht (bowling from around the wicket) bowled it a bit quicker but pushed it down the leg. There was no looking back from there.

The spinner tried the similar ball once again and this time Wolvaardt had a big swing on it, got a thick inside edge and picked a boundary as the ball went past the wicket-keeper. A wide and a single to follow on the next two that brought Mooney on strike.

This time the spinner tossed it up, Mooney stepped out and hammered it through the mid-wicket area for another four.

The breakthrough

The RCB bowlers looked all at sea as Wolvaardt and Mooney were hammering them all around the park. But the breakthrough finally came. It was the last ball of the 13^th over, courtesy of a runout. Mooney who was on strike cut it straight to point and the batters went for a very tight single. Bisht threw the ball back to Richa Ghosh quickly and the wicket-keeper whipped the bails off in a flash to send Wolvaardt back in the hut for 76 off 45.

By the time, RCB got their first breakthrough, GGT had already put up 140.

The Gujarat team looked set to post a mammoth total but RCB managed to contain the scoring rate. GGT lost four more wickets after Wolvaardt’s departure including two more run-outs and could only add 59 in the last 7 overs.

No other batter was able to make the contributions as GGT eventually got 199/5 in 20 overs with Mooney remaining unbeaten at 85 off 51.

RCB lose crucial points

RCB never really looked in control of this game right from the beginning. Their bowlers were thoroughly dominated by the GGT opening pair of Wolvaardt and Mooney. Later, the Bangalore franchise had a disappointing start to the proceedings.

Ashleigh Gardner removed Mandhana after trapping her in front of the stumps for 24. RCB lost wickets at regular intervals and were reduced to 96/4 with Perry also back in the dugout for 24.

RCB haven’t been able to put up big totals when Mandhana has failed with the bat in this edition and the kind of target they had in this fixture, it was an uphill task for the team.

Every time a batter looked to fire on all cylinders, GGT found a way to get them dismissed. Wicket-keeper batter Richa Ghosh who was scoring runs at a quick pace miscued one and was caught by Meghna Singh for 30 off 21.