WPL 2023: Royal Challengers Bangalore Women finally won their first match in the Women’s premier league in their sixth attempt. A strong bowling performance from their bowlers led by Ellyse Perry and enterprising knocks from young Kanika Ahuja and Richa Ghosh took them to a 5-wicket victory with two overs to spare.

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Smriti Mandhana won the toss and sent UP Warriorz Women in. They had the perfect start when the experienced Sophie Devine picked up two wickets in the first over including the UP captain Alyssa Healy. UP also lost Tahlia McGrath in the next over and could never recover from 5 for 3. They were soon 31 for 5 when Grace Harris and Deepti Sharma started some rebuilding. They took the score to 100 before Sharma was dismissed by Perry for 22. Perry also dismissed Harris who top-scored with 46 and eventually finished with 3 for 16 in her 4 overs. Warriorz were eventually bowled out for 135 in the 20th over.

The Royal Challengers’ chase did not start in a positive note as both the openers Mandhana and Devine failed again. Perry and Heather Knight tried to build a partnership but lost their wickets playing rash shots. At 60 for 4, it looked like RCB might falter again but Ahuja and Ghosh picked up the chase from there. They were not shy of playing their shots and added 60 runs in 46 deliveries. Ahuja was dismissed by Sophie Ecclestone and missed her half-century by just 4 runs. However, Ghosh remained unbeaten for 31 and completed the chase to take her team to their first win of the season.

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Score: Royal Challengers Bangalore 136/5 beat Gujarat Giants 135 by 5 wickets

Player of the Match: Kanika Ahuja (46 off 30, 2 catches)

The losing captain of UP Warriorz, Alyssa Healy said,

We weren’t up to standard tonight and the total was under par, not good enough. The wicket was holding a bit, it was like wet clay and we got ahead of ourselves, losing three wickets in the powerplay is not great. It was spin to win, the ball was gripping and we needed wickets, we thought it would be spinners to get us those wickets. (On RCB getting their first win) Full credit to them, they are a good side and things haven’t gone their way. They turned up tonight after losing five games and were the better team.

Smriti Mandhana, who finally led Royal Challengers Bangalore to a win after five back-to-back defeats, said,

Yeah, it was tense. We lost a couple of wickets in the 7th over, it was a bit nervous. But the way Kanika and Richa played was brilliant. Kanika in particular, really proud of her. Really excited to see her bat, the approach she has. She is a 360 degree player, who isn’t the most common in Indian cricket. Really impressed with her and the belief she has. Even when we have not been in great positions, the crowd keep chanting for us. Really happy for this loyal support base, not a lot of teams will have supporters turn up in such high numbers after losing five games.

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