"Queen shut the mouths of all her haters today"- Fans hail Smriti Mandhana after her belligerent 74-run knock in RCB vs DC clash in WPL 2024
Fans praised Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) captain Smriti Mandhana after her aggressive half-century in a daunting chase against Delhi Capitals in WPL 2024 on Thursday, February 29. Smriti injected momentum into RCB's innings with a fiery 74 (43), but her side ended up losing the match as she didn't receive support from other batters.
Delhi Capitals (DC) batted first in the contest at the M. Chinnaswamy Stadium after losing the toss and scaled a daunting total of 194/5 in 20 overs. Shafali Verma (50), Alice Capsey (46), Marizanne Kapp (32), and Jess Jonassen (36*) starred for them in the batting department.
Smriti Mandhana then took the initiative of being the aggressor for RCB in the powerplay and went after the bowlers. Her tactical acumen was on display as she smartly targeted the short leg-side boundary majorly to score briskly.
Her partners, Sophie Devine (23) and Sabbhineni Meghana (36) struggled to score freely, which mounted pressure on Mandhana. However, Smriti managed to overcome it for a while and notched up her maiden WPL half-century. She reached 74 before Marizanne Kapp cleaned her up at the end of the 12th over. Things fell apart for RCB after that, as they could only reach 169/9 in 20 overs.
RCB fans were elated after witnessing a quality knock from their captain, Smriti Mandhana, in a big chase. They heaped praise on her through their reactions on X. Here are some of the top reactions:
"A bad game, but we have to take away something from it and come back strongly"- RCB captain Smriti Mandhana after loss vs DC in WPL 2024
After the conclusion of the match, RCB skipper Smriti Mandhana reflected on the loss and said:
"The way we bowled the first two matches, we didn't live up to it. A bad game, but we have to take away something from it and come back strongly. When we were back at the dugout, we had a chat about how they were 10-15 runs up, my chat with Sophie was that if we end up playing till the 14th or 15th we can get there."
She continued:
"The way women's cricket is progressing, had to put in a bit of work for the leg side shots. The boundaries on the leg side were pretty short, so my eyes were there. In terms of bowling, won't be too critical.
"We didn't really bowl or field up to our standards. Because of the crowd, we don't get the attention. We'll have a chat about it - I'll take that on me, will have to be really quick on the field."
RCB will next face MI on Saturday (March 2) at the M.Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bengaluru.