🏏WPL 2024: Match 5: RCB W vs Gujarat Giants W🏏

🏏WPL 2024: Match 5: RCB W vs Gujarat Giants W at Bengaluru on 27/02/2024 at 7:30 PM IST🏏

The fifth match of WPL 2024 will see the Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) take on the Gujarat Giants (GG) tonight. It is the second match of the season for both teams. While RCB started their campaign with a win against UP Warriorz, GG suffered a defeat at the hands of Mumbai Indians in their opening fixture.

Royal Challengers Bangalore and Gujarat Giants were the two teams that failed to qualify for the playoffs in the inaugural Women's Premier League last year. Both franchises will aim to make it to the knockouts this time around.

The team winning the toss would look to bowl first given dew might come into play in the second innings.

Royal Challengers Bangalore Women vs Gujarat Giants Women Pitch Report

The pitch in Bengaluru seemed slightly challenging to bat on in the previous two encounters. Gujarat Giants scored 126/9 against Mumbai Indians, while UP Warriorz managed 119/9 against Delhi Capitals. Generally, the wicket at the venue is good for batting, but a used surface may challenge the batters.

Royal Challengers Bangalore Women vs Gujarat Giants Women Weather Forecast

No rain interruptions are expected during the RCB vs GG match in WPL 2024 tonight. It will be a clear night sky with periodic clouds in Bengaluru. The temperature will stay in the range of 26 degrees Celsius during the game hours.

Team News:

Royal Challengers Bangalore: The hosts might want their big stars - Smriti Mandhana, Sophie Devine and Ellyse Perry - to fire, but they are unlikely to make too many changes. If they wish to add muscle to their pace attack, either Kate Cross or Nadine de Klerk could come in for Sophie Molineux, who bowled well in the last game.

Probable XI: Smriti Mandhana, Sophie Devine, S Meghana, Ellyse Perry, Richa Ghosh, Sophie Molineux, Georgia Wareham, Shreyanka Patil, Simran Bahadur, S Asha, Renuka Thakur

Gujarat Giants: Not much went Gujarat's way in the opening encounter but it's probably too early to panic and make changes to their XI already. They could be tempted to add muscle to their batting with the inclusion of Laura Wolvaardt at the cost of going slightly imbalance and inexperienced in the bowling department.

Probable XI: Beth Mooney, Veda Krishnamurthy, Harleen Deol, Phoebe Litchfield, Ash Gardner, D Hemalatha, Kathryn Bryce, Tanuja Kanwar, Sneh Rana, Lea Tahuhu, Meghana Singh

Royal Challengers Bangalore Women vs Gujarat Giants Women Match Prediction

Royal Challengers Bangalore will be quite confident heading into the match after a two-run win against the UP Warriorz. Despite a disappointing performance from Smriti Mandhana, Sophie Devine, and Ellyse Perry, RCB defeated the Warriorz

Meanwhile, Gujarat Giants have failed to click as a unit in the WPL. It will be a big challenge for GG to defeat RCB, who will have the support of their home fans. Expect a close WPL 2024 game, with RCB emerging victorious.

Prediction: Royal Challengers Bangalore Women to win this WPL 2024 contest.

HEAD TO HEAD - LAST 2 MATCHES

RCB Women won by 8 wickets (with 27 balls remaining) 19-Mar-2023

GG Women won by 11 runs 09-Mar-2023

Batters To Watch(recent stats)

Sophie Devine,  RCB-W

9 M • 267 Runs • 29.67 Avg • 167.92 SR

Ellyse Perry,  RCB-W

9 M • 261 Runs • 37.29 Avg • 123.11 SR

Ashleigh Gardner,  GG-W

9 M • 219 Runs • 27.38 Avg • 131.92 SR

Harleen Deol,  GG-W

9 M • 210 Runs • 26.25 Avg • 123.52 SR

Bowlers To Watch(recent stats)

Asha Sobhana,  RCB-W

6 M • 10 Wkts • 7.81 Econ • 12.6 SR

Shreyanka Patil,  RCB-W

8 M • 6 Wkts • 9.96 Econ • 22.5 SR

Ashleigh Gardner,  GG-W

9 M • 10 Wkts • 8.78 Econ • 19 SR

Tanuja Kanwar,  GG-W

9 M • 7 Wkts • 8.39 Econ • 26.57 SR

What to expect: There has been a bit of advantage for teams batting second, with the ball holding up a bit, especially in the first half of the first innings. The lower floodlights have needed some adjusting to for the fielders as many catches have been dropped so far already in the tournament

There was very little to separate Gujarat Giants and Royal Challengers Bangalore last season, with both teams finishing at the bottom of the table with two wins each in eight games.

It's still early days in the 2024 edition of the Women's Premier League and they have started out in contrasting fashion. While RCB edged out UP Warriorz in a last ball finish to make a winning start in this season, Gujarat Giants were outplayed by Mumbai Indians. In a tournament where games have gone down to last-ball finishes, Giants have been the only laggards in the pack.

Despite a big reshuffle to their squad, their fortunes haven't changed much. The withdrawal of Lauren Cheatle and injury to Kashvee Gautam has admittedly affected the combination they had planned heading into the tournament, but that's only a part of the problem. They were first undone by Shabnim Ismail's pace and Amelia Kerr's spin, and then in their own undoing, faulted multiple times over in the field.

What they said:

"We let ourselves down in the first ten overs. Credit has to go to TK (Tanuja Kanwar) and (Katherine) Bryce to get us to a defendable total. We were 20 runs short in the end to make it a challenging chase. Lot to take away from the first innings" - Beth Mooney after the Gujarat Giants' loss against MI

"The crowd gave us an extra 20 runs in the chase" - Sophie Molineux on the crowd support for RCB during the game against UPW.

Squads:

Gujarat Giants Squad: Beth Mooney(w/c), Veda Krishnamurthy, Harleen Deol, Phoebe Litchfield, Dayalan Hemalatha, Ashleigh Gardner, Kathryn Bryce, Sneh Rana, Tanuja Kanwar, Lea Tahuhu, Meghna Singh, Laura Wolvaardt, Tarannum Pathan, Mannat Kashyap, Shabnam Md Shakil, Sayali Satghare, Priya Mishra, Trisha Poojitha

Royal Challengers Bangalore Women Squad: Sophie Devine, Smriti Mandhana(c), Sabbhineni Meghana, Ellyse Perry, Richa Ghosh(w), Georgia Wareham, Sophie Molineux, Shreyanka Patil, Simran Bahadur, Asha Sobhana, Renuka Thakur Singh, Indrani Roy, Shubha Satheesh, Shraddha Pokharkar, Disha Kasat, Nadine de Klerk, Kate Cross, Ekta Bisht