Sophie Devine of New Zealand and Royal Challengers Bangalore is optimistic that her team can turn things around in the Women’s Premier League despite suffering their third straight defeat.
On Wednesday in Mumbai, Gujarat Giants defeated Royal Challengers Bangalore by 11 runs in the Women’s Premier League (WPL), handing them their third straight loss. This was Gujarat Giants’ first victory in three games.
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Devine, a right-handed batsman, played a mainly lone hand in their chase as the other batters failed to make a significant impact. Royal Challengers Bangalore needed to score 202 to win, which Devine described as an “at par” number. Instead, they only managed to reach 180/6. The fact that the RCB did not hit a six until the 14th over and was guilty of facing far too many dot balls during their chase was a major factor in their defeat in a game with high scoring.
”Obviously not, because we did not win,’ Devine told the media when asked if her side missed a trick by not clearing the boundary ropes enough. ‘I think to pinpoint (a reason for loss) is pretty tough, to nail it down to one thing but I think probably our dot balls (were too many). And it is going to happen sometimes, you have to give the credit to the bowlers who bowled some great deliveries today,” Sophie Devine said.
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”But still, we have shown how can you get those dot balls to be even those singles. In games like this you get back and look at every single ball you think could I have got a run there or could we have pushed for two? ”It is really disappointing but I think we have shown real improvement from game to game,” Sophie Devine added.
“Smriti Mandhana is really outstanding”: Sophie Devine
Devine expressed her expectation for more runs from her opening partnership with Smriti Mandhana of the RCB, as the duo has so far been able to produce great starts in all three WPL games.
She said, “I would certainly like us to go a little bit deeper and score a few more runs. The great thing about this sort of competition is that you get to bat with world-class players and Smriti is really outstanding. She (targets) different areas obviously because she is left-handed, it makes a big difference, and it is really a good combination at the top of the order”
“I know she wants to score more runs, I want to score more runs, and hopefully we keep bouncing off each other and a really big partnership is just around the corner” Sophie Devine added.
As Gujarat Giants batted first and reached a solid 201 for 7 following two outstanding half-centuries from Sophia Dunkley (65) and Harleen Deol (67), their bowlers performed a respectable job of holding RCB to 190 for 6 in their 20 overs. In their pursuit, RCB opener and New Zealand batswoman Sophie Devine primarily played by herself, scoring a solid 66 from 45 balls with eight fours and two sixes.
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