When Smriti Mandhana took her 1st wicket in WBBL
Smriti Mandhana surprised everyone by deciding to bowl the 17th over of the match between the Royal Challengers Bangalore and Mumbai Indians earlier tonight (Tuesday, March 21) in WPL 2023. The RCB skipper earned everyone's attention with her unique bowling action.
Mandhana does not bowl that often, which was visible in her stats after the match against the Mumbai Indians as well. She bowled only three balls in the game, conceding nine runs at an economy rate of 18. Amelia Kerr smashed her for a boundary on the first ball she bowled.
Kerr played out two dot balls after that and Smriti Mandhana ended up conceding five wides as the Royal Challengers Bangalore ended their disappointing campaign with a four-wicket loss against the Mumbai Indians.
The match did not hold much significance for RCB since they had already been knocked out of the tournament. They just had to avoid a big defeat to ensure that they did not slip to fifth position in the WPL 2023 points table.
After the Mumbai Indians batted 16 overs in their run-chase of 126 against the Royal Challengers Bangalore, captain Smriti Mandhana decided to roll her arm over for the first and last time in WPL 2023. Unfortunately, the over did not go as Mandhana would have planned, but fans were delighted to see her bowl.
Gujarat Giants all-rounder Harleen Deol felt that Mandhana's bowling action was quite similar to that of Royal Challengers Bangalore men's team's star player Virat Kohli. Reacting to Smriti's bowling, Harleen wrote on Twitter:
"Seems like jersey no 18 has the same bowling action.. what say @mandhana_smriti ..!!!!!!"
Seems like jersey no 18 has the same bowling action.. what say @mandhana_smriti ..!!!!!!
While Smriti's bowling in WPL 2023 reminded Harleen Deol about Virat Kohli, other fans recalled how the star Indian player trapped Georgia Wareham in front of her stumps in the Women's Big Bash League 2017 to take her maiden WBBL wicket.
Smriti Mandhana needed only 4 balls to take her 1st wicket in WBBL
Mandhana inked a deal with the Brisbane Heat Women ahead of the second edition of the Women's Big Bash League in 2016-17. Brisbane captain Kirby Short asked her to complete the 16th over of the innings when Haidee Birkett bowled two beamers and was not allowed to bowl further.
Four balls remained in the over when Mandhana came in to bowl. She conceded only a solitary run from those four deliveries and maintained an economy rate of 1.5. She also took the wicket of all-rounder Georgia Wareham, who was struggling in the middle. Wareham managed only nine runs off 14 balls in that innings.
A Twitter user shared a rare video of Mandhana taking her maiden WBBL wicket on the social media platform.
You can watch the clip here:
Smriti's bowling in WBBL🤩
@mandhana_smriti
#HappyBirthdaySmritiMandhana https://t.co/AwLseSo9ak
While Smriti Mandhana has bowled a few deliveries in the world's two women's T20 leagues now, she has never bowled an over in international cricket. It will be interesting to see if Indian captain Harmanpreet Kaur decides to use her as a part-time spinner in India's upcoming matches.