Royal Challengers Bangalore Vs Gujarat Giants, WPL 2024: Beth Mooney Leads GG-W To 19-Run Win - As It Happened

Hello and welcome to the highlights from Match 13 of the Women's Premier League, featuring Smriti Mandhana's Royal Challengers Bangalore and Beth Mooney's Gujarat Giants. Bangalore were the favourites going into this game, but then we had the Mooney show. The Aussie southpaw showed why she is one of the most reliable batters in world cricket, staying undefeated at 85 runs off just 51 balls and taking her team to a formidable 199-run total. In response, RCB's big hitters tried to make a match of it, with Georgia Wareham (48 off 22 balls) striking some lusty blows. But 200 turned out to be a bridge too far, and Bangalore fell 19 runs short. Resultantly, Gujarat earned their first win of the season. Catch the highlights of the RCB vs GG, WPL 2024 match. (Streaming | Full Coverage | Schedule And Points Table)

Royal Challengers Bangalore Women: Sabbhineni Meghana, Smriti Mandhana (c), Ellyse Perry, Richa Ghosh (wk), Sophie Devine, Sophie Molineux, Georgia Wareham, Ekta Bisht, Simran Bahadur, Asha Sobhana, Renuka Thakur Singh, Kate Cross, Nadine de Klerk, Disha Kasat, Indrani Roy, Shubha Satheesh, Shraddha Pokharkar, Shreyanka Patil.

Gujarat Giants Women: Beth Mooney (wk/c), Laura Wolvaardt, Phoebe Litchfield, Veda Krishnamurthy, Ashleigh Gardner, Kathryn Bryce, Tanuja Kanwar, Tarannum Pathan, Meghna Singh, Sayali Satghare, Dayalan Hemalatha, Mannat Kashyap, Lea Tahuhu, Sneh Rana, Harleen Deol, Shabnam Md Shakil, Priya Mishra, Trisha Poojitha.

The two teams have met thrice before, and most recently in Bengaluru for the first leg of this fixture. Bangalore had won big at home, thrashing Gujarat by eight wickets in a one-sided contest. Sophie Molineux and Renuka Singh first led the way to restrict GG to 107/7, and captain Mandhana and Sabbineni Meghana then blazed away to the target in 12.3 overs.

The two encounters before that were in the first edition of the Women's Premier League, with the franchises winning one game apiece. In the first clash, Gujarat had racked up a big score of 201 and then restricted Bangalore to 190/6 to register an 11-run victory. The second match-up saw Bangalore romping home by eight wickets, chasing down a target of 189 with 27 balls to spare.

The temperature is around 19 degrees Celsius in Delhi right now and there is a breeze around, which implies that dew might not play a very big role. The boundary dimensions stack up like this:- 46m and 63m on the square, with the shortest part being 42m and the longest 65m. It is a 64m hit straight down the ground. With it being a black-soil surface, a few balls could keep low, former India captain Anjum Chopra says on air. The pitch is well rolled in, and she expects it to play well, like it did yesterday.

Gujarat Giants Women skipper Beth Mooney has won the toss and elected to bat first without any hesitation.

Gujarat Giants Women: Beth Mooney (c & wk), Laura Wolvaardt, Phoebe Litchfield, Veda Krishnamurthy, D Hemalatha,, Ashleigh Gardner, Kathryn Bryce, Tanuja Kanwar, Meghna Singh, Mannat Kashyap, Shabnam Shakil

Royal Challengers Bangalore Women: S Meghana, Smriti Mandhana (c), Ellyse Perry, Richa Ghosh (wk), Sophie Devine, Georgia Wareham, Sophie Molineux, Ekta Bisht, Simran Bahadur, Asha Sobhana, Renuka Singh

Smriti Mandhana (RCB): We would've fielded first anyway. Looks like a good wicket to bat on. We had a hectic last 2-3 days, and the last win was really nice in front of the home crowd. Travel days are always good with this bunch. We're all ready to go. No changes to our playing XI.

Beth Mooney (GG): We're trying to be nice and brave, nice and positive. We want to do something different and try and see if we can shake things up. The wicket looks like it kept a little low last night, we'll see what it does in the second innings, probably not as much dew as well.

The beleaguered Gujarat Giants needed a good start to put the Royal Challengers Bangalore under initial pressure, and they have got that. Laura Wolvaardt and Beth Mooney have together put 25 runs on the board in the first two overs and are looking good for more.

Things are getting better and better for Gujarat Giants. Their openers are still at the crease and have plundered 134 runs off the first 12 overs. Laura Wolvaardt has raced away to 74 off 43 balls and skipper Beth Mooney is nearing a half-century (47 off 29 balls). Smriti Mandhana has a lot to think about as no bowler has made an impact so far. GG will look to cross 220 and put this beyond RCB.

RCB finally have a breakthrough. Laura Wolvaardt's full-stretch dive is not enough to avert her run out at the striker's end in the 13th over. The GG-W opener has to walk back after a fabulous 76-run knock.

But her opening partner Beth Mooney is still going strong, and Gujarat continue to keep their run rate over 10. Phoebe Litchfield has joined her captain in the middle. Time for the final flourish?

There was a flurry of wickets at the end, and Gujarat did not end up where they would have liked to, after such a strong foundation. But 199/5 is still a tall total, and it has largely been possible owing to their captain Beth Mooney leading from the front. The opener stayed unbeaten on 85 off just 51 balls, smashing 12 fours and one six along the way. Laura Wolvaardt (76 off 45 balls) was the partner in crime, and together they have put GG-W in a very good position to defend the score and notch up their first win this season.

Stay tuned for the chase coming up in 10 minutes.

The Royal Challengers Bangalore have begun their chase of a daunting 200-run target in earnest. Their skipper Smriti Mandhana has rattled off two sixes and as many fours to get to 24 off 15 balls. In contrast, her opening partner Sabbhineni Meghana is struggling at 2 off nine balls.

And the Giants wrest the initiative again. First, Ashleigh Gardner traps the dangerous Smriti Mandhana in front, and then S Meghana is run out in pursuit of a non-existent second run. Royal Challengers Bangalore are two down for 53 runs after eight overs, and need 147 runs off 72 balls with eight wickets in hand. Sophie Devine and Ellyse Perry at the crease.

The match is firmly in Gujarat's grip now. RCB have lost four wickets and the asking rate is beyond 15 now. With seven overs to go and 100-odd still to get, it will take a special knock from someone in the lower-order to make this chase successful. Richa Ghosh, who has earned her stripes as a big hitter, is at the crease and the batter most likely to do that demolition job for Bangalore.

It seems all over but the shouting. Gujarat are now on the verge of their first victory this season. RCB are seven down and still need 33 runs off the last over. Ashleigh Gardener with the ball for GG. Stranger things have happened in cricket but six legal deliveries should do it, one would reckon.

And that's that. Ashleigh Gardner had 33 runs to defend in the final over and she gave away 13, as Gujarat Giants finally open their account in the WPL 2024 season. They restrict RCB to 180/8 in the second innings and record a 19-run victory that takes them to two points from five games. Bangalore stay at six points from five matches.

Smriti Mandhana: We definitely had a chat about them (Giants), they have world-class players in their team. I feel 200 was chaseable, we probably should have had better partnerships but in the end they played well. They started off really well. They were scoring at a good run-rate but I felt like we pulled it back really well in the last 3-4 overs. It’s just about playing good cricket, it's not about batting first or second. We’ll learn from our mistakes today, we’ll understand the conditions better, this was our first match here.

Beth Mooney (also Player Of The Match): Was a bit too close at the end for my liking, my heart rate was a little high. But yeah, stoked to get on the board. Everyone responded really well. There were a few eyebrows raised when we chose to bat. But Mike (Michael Klinger, GG coach) and I had a chat and wanted to get ahead of the game. Laura batted the house down. She was amazing tonight, took a lot of pressure off me. She's a beautiful batter when she gets going. I'm not as good as Laura, just happy to finally contribute. Been a tough season so far. Absolutely pumped for the girls. Ash bowled beautifully, TK (Tanuja Kanwar) got hit a bit but came back and bowled well.

That concludes our coverage of this game. We will be back tomorrow with match 14 of WPL 2024 - Mumbai Indians vs UP Warriorz - and the fifth India vs England Test in Dharamsala before that. Until then, goodbye.