Royal Challengers Bangalore Women (RCB-W) registered their first loss of the Women’s Premier League (WPL) 2024 as they were beaten by Delhi Capitals Women (DC-W) by 25 runs in Match 7 on Thursday, February 29 at M. Chinnaswamy Stadium, Bengaluru. The Smriti Mandhana-led side failed to chase down 195 as no one apart from her 74, contributed massively to the team’s total which led to their first loss of the season.
Despite RCB ending on the losing side, the game was full of several star performers who lit up the game with their stupendous cricketing skills. All-Rounder Georgia Wareham even left the fans stunned by saving a certain six in the first innings of the game. The incident took place on the third ball of the 11th over bowled by Nadine de Klerk.
DC opener Shafali Verma smacked the right-arm seamer towards the deep mid-wicket and the ball was travelling over the rope for a certain six. However, Georgia Wareham, who was stationed at the boundary, jumped to his full height to pull the ball back inside the boundary with her left hand and saved a certain six.
Watch Georgia Wareham’s acrobatic effort here:
Wareham’s acrobatic effort reminded RCB fans of AB de Villiers’ jaw-dropping catch against Sunrisers Hyderabad in the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2018. Notably, De Villiers’ had taken a one-handed stunner to dismiss Alex Hales which helped his side win the match by 14 runs.
Smriti Mandhana scored her maiden WPL half century
Coming back to the RCB-W vs DC-W game, chasing a massive target of 195, RCB got off to a great start as openers captain Mandhana and Sophie Devine (23 off 17) added 77 runs for the first wicket off 51 balls. Mandhana went on to score his maiden half-century in WPL playing a magnificent innings of 74 (43) smashing ten fours and three sixes.
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However, the remaining batter failed to keep up with the required run rate as RCB could only reach 169/9 in their allotted 20 overs. Jess Jonassen (3/21), Marizanne Kapp (2/35) and Arundhati Reddy (2/38) starred with the ball for Delhi. Earlier, Shafali Verma (50 off 31), Alice Capsey (46 off 33), Marizanne Kapp (32 off 16) and Jess Jonassen (36* off 16) helped DC-W score 194/5 in the first innings.
