🏏Royal Challengers Bangalore W vs Delhi Capitals Women, 2nd Match 🏏

🏏Royal Challengers Bangalore W vs Delhi Capitals Women, 2nd Match 🏏

WPL:Match2 

We are here to witness the second match of women Premier League between RCB vs DC today. 

There was an intriguing contrast to how Delhi Capitals and Royal Challengers Bangalore approached the first-ever Women's Premier League auction. 

RCB came out swinging, they went as far as INR 3.4 Crore for Smriti Mandhana, the first player to be auctioned and then picked up the baton again when Harmanpreet Kaur's name came up next. 

It was a brave strategy considering it'd have taken up a significant portion of their budget, but they didn't go all the way. 

Delhi Capitals were in the mix for Harmanpreet too, but MI beat them to it.

By the time DC snapped up Jemimah Rodrigues for INR 2.2 Crore as their first signing, RCB had four - including Ellyse Perry and Sophie Devine. 

In an auction characterised by uncertainty, RCB attacked at the top while DC hit through the middle. Interestingly, come Sunday (March 5), DC can flip the mindset on the field with two top-order batters in Shafali Verma and Meg Lanning - both with an eerily identical T20I strike rate of 132.11 - and target the PowerPlay.

With a possible top-three of Smriti Mandhana, Sophie Devine and Ellyse Perry, RCB could match DC for the early pyrotechnics. 

Mandhana's side will particularly hope for a fast start as the early schedule isn't kind on them - after an afternoon game today, they play an evening fixture immediately on Monday. 

 A delighted Meg Lanning. The Delhi Capitals captain hit 16 fours and a four on her way to 88 in 45 balls as Australia women scored the highest score at the venue - 209 for 4 against England women in 2018. Both batting sides should be happy with the conditions.

Royal Challengers Bangalore

The early challenge for RCB lies with the bowling department. Their Indian and domestic contingent have the opportunity to impress the captain in the cramped fixtures in their quest to become regular features in the top-heavy side.

Probable XI: Smriti Mandhana (c), Sophie Devine, Ellyse Perry, Dane van Niekerk/Heather Knight, Disha Kasat, Richa Ghosh (wk), Kanika Ahuja, Megan Schutt, Preeti Bose/Sahana Pawar, Renuka Thakur, Komal Zanzad

Delhi Capitals

With Mandhana being the only left-hander in the RCB top-order, DC can attack with two left-arm spinners in Jess Jonnasen and Radha Yadav.

Probable XI: Shafali Verma, Jasia Akhtar, Jemimah Rodrigues, Meg Lanning (c), Marizanne Kapp, Alice Capsey/Laura Harris, Taniya Bhatia (wk), Jess Jonassen, Radha Yadav, Shikha Pandey, Poonam Yadav

Thanks for the tag Madhu. 🤗

May the best team win.👍🏼

Cheers..

Star-studded Royal Challengers Bangalore, Delhi Capitals look to get WPL juggernaut going

Superstar captains. Interesting sub-plots. A sold-out crowd. There is all to play for at the Brabourne Stadium. 

Smriti Mandhana vs Jemimah Rodrigues. Ellyse Perry vs Meg Lanning. Dane van Niekerk vs Marizanne Kapp. Brace yourselves. And it will all happen in front of a sold-out crowd at the Brabourne Stadium in Mumbai as Royal Challengers Bangalore take on Delhi Capitals on Sunday.

Both sides have superstar captains. Mandhana, the most expensive player at the inaugural auction at INR 3.4 crore, will be leading Royal Challengers, who look the most balanced side in the tournament. In Lanning, Capitals have a brilliant captain, who comes into the tournament a week after leading Australia to their sixth T20 World Cup title. Ahead of the WPL, she said she's looking to inculcate that winning culture in this Capitals side.

Quotes

"I love winning, I'm very competitive and I'm coming here to try and help Delhi win as many games as possible. It would be great [to win], every team is probably thinking the same thing but we're doing our best, and the biggest challenge is to bring everybody together and making sure we're working as a team."

Delhi Capitals captain Meg Lanning on how she wants to lead the new side

"I just don't like the kind of comparison because what he has achieved is amazing, and I hope that I can reach that level. But I'm nowhere near him. What he has achieved for this franchise, I'd like to try and do that."

Royal Challengers captain Smriti Mandhana wants to emulate Virat Kohli's success with the franchise

A number of international names linked up with their respective teams just a few days before the tournament following the T20 World Cup in South Africa. While Mandhana is looking to make use of her knowledge of the Indian domestic players to put a solid XI together, Lanning said she would be leaning on her team-mates Rodrigues and Shafali Varma to handle the younger and unknown players.

Both teams have an enviable mix of overseas and Indian talent. Royal Challengers have Richa Ghosh and Renuka Singh, the two high-profile India internationals. Capitals, meanwhile, have the likes of Shafali, Poonam Yadav and Radha Yadav.

Perry, van Niekerk, Heather Knight, Sophie Devine, Erin Burns and Megan Schutt are the overseas options in the Royal Challengers side, which means the team management will have some head-scratching to do over picking just four from this star-studded list. They have captain Mandhana to do the heavy lifting from the top, while Devine, Perry, Ghosh and van Niekerk will be expected to provide the firepower in the middle order. While Royal Challengers' pace-bowling unit looks solid with Schutt, Renuka and Perry, they do not have an experienced Indian spinner in their ranks.

Yesterday it was Harman vs Beth and today it is Smriti vs Meg.

Interesting.

Cheers..

Delhi Capitals' strong top order has Shafali, Rodrigues and Lanning, with Kapp and Taniya Bhatia to follow. They will, however, be left to choose from a largely inexperienced pace-bowling unit, barring Shikha Pandey and Kapp. However, they have the option to bring in USA left-arm pacer Tara Norris, an Associate player who can be included as the fifth overseas player in the XI. Among the spin-bowling options, Capitals have Radha Yadav, Jess Jonassen and Poonam Yadav. 

Stats and trivia

• Perry had finished as the second-highest run-scorer during Australia's T20I series tour of India in December 2022

• Mandhana has scored 831 runs, the most in women's T20Is since January 2022

• This game will have three key players who were part of India's U-19 winning World Cup squad: Shafali, Titas Sadhu and Ghosh.

Quotes

"I love winning, I'm very competitive and I'm coming here to try and help Delhi win as many games as possible. It would be great [to win], every team is probably thinking the same thing but we're doing our best, and the biggest challenge is to bring everybody together and making sure we're working as a team."

Delhi Capitals captain Meg Lanning on how she wants to lead the new side

"I just don't like the kind of comparison because what he has achieved is amazing, and I hope that I can reach that level. But I'm nowhere near him. What he has achieved for this franchise, I'd like to try and do that."

Royal Challengers captain Smriti Mandhana wants to emulate Virat Kohli's success with the franchise

We are into the second day of the #WPL and it's the first double header day of the tournament. Up first are the Royal Challengers from Bangalore up against the Delhi Capitals in the afternoon match. 

It's a match-up between two extremely strong teams with a lot of star power. Smriti Mandhana will be leading on a full-time basis for the first time in her career and she's up against Meg Lanning, who has made it a habit of leading teams to multiple titles. 

On paper, this is a battle between equals and should result in a close contest. Toss and team sheets coming up shortly..