Gardner to the fore as GG makes brief work of RCB

Ash Gardner led Gujarat Giants to a facile win over Royal Challengers Bengaluru.
| Photograph Credit score: Ok. BHAGYA PRAKASH

Gujarat Giants (GG) cruised previous a listless Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) by six wickets within the Girls’s Premier League (WPL) on the M. Chinnaswamy Stadium right here on Thursday.

RCB’s horror run at residence continued, with the facet falling to a 3rd straight loss. GG (4 factors) recorded a primary win in three outings.

RCB’s woes started with a sub-par batting effort, solely managing 125 for seven. GG made mild of the chase, driving on an attacking knock from captain Ashleigh Gardner (58, 31b, 6×4, 3×6). The Australian discovered an in a position ally in Phoebe Litchfield, who did her half with an unbeaten 30.

Gardner did her crew a favour by calling it proper on the toss, on a pitch which favours chasing.

RCB suffered a poor begin, with mainstays Smriti Mandhana (10), Danielle Wyatt (4) and Ellyse Perry (0) falling within the PowerPlay. The 27,500-odd crowd anticipated massive issues from Smriti, however the southpaw was fully out of types. After being overwhelmed repeatedly, Smriti tried to interrupt the shackles with a slog sweep to spinner Tanuja Kanwar, however discovered the fielder at deep mid-wicket.

Perry, the shape batter, dabbed a protracted hop from Gardner to square-leg. RCB stumbled to 26 for 3 in six overs, and was pressured to play catch up.

Raghvi Bist (22, 19b, 1×4, 1×6) and Kanika Ahuja (33, 28b, 1×4, 2×6) did a minor restore job with a 48-run fourth-wicket stand. Raghvi was taken out by way of a comical sequence – a run-out effected after Gardner fumbled a sitter.

Kanika was despatched again within the subsequent over, with Tanuja taking a tremendous excessive catch off her personal bowling. Georgia Wareham (20 n.o.) ensured that RCB batted the complete quota of overs, nevertheless it was not sufficient to cease the GG march.

The scores: RCB 125/7 in 20 overs (Kanika Ahuja 33) misplaced to Gujarat Giants 126/4 in 16.3 overs (Gardner 58, Litchfield 30 n.o). Toss:
GG. PoM: Gardner.