And she ends this in style! Banged in short down leg. She pulls this with aplomb and the ball travels over deep backward square leg for six. RCB down Capitals by eight wickets and 22 balls to spare. Utter domination.
DC Women vs RCB Women, 4th Match at Vadodara, WPL, Feb 17 2025 - Ball by Ball Commentary
That's that. A thumping win for RCB who are now sitting pretty at the top of the table with four points and a really good NRR. Back to the drawing board for Delhi Capitals, who had an evening to forget. If you missed any action, Vishal's report will be up soon. Thanks for tuning in. We will be in nice and early tomorrow to watch Gujarat taking on Mumbai. Till then, this is me Ashish Pant, signing off on behalf of Raghav and Vishal. Ciao!
Renuka Singh Thakur is the player of the match: Very happy memories on this ground. I had won two player of the match awards here in the last series I played. I have worked a lot on my bowling. I am now also working on my pace and outswing. [What she does when the going gets tough] I focus on my body. Sometimes I bowl wide of the crease, and then I tend to go down leg, so I get closer to stumps and correct my lines.
RCB captain Smriti Mandhana: Very pleased. The bowlers did a great job restricting DC to below 150. In fielding we saved 15-20 runs. And then Danni was great. [Bowling] The strategy was to bowl more pace. Depending on the conditions, Baroda doesn't play twice the same way. Renuka and Joshitha were great. As a team, we are proud. Ekta as well, was great. Danni and I know each other well. The bowlers did a great job. We kept going on, and the runs came.
Danni Wyatt-Hodge: What a win. We wanted to do two from two and we did it. I had the best seat in the house there with Smriti going the way she was. The bowling was great, so was our catching. [Partnership with Mandhana] She keeps me very calm. She was my coach tonight which was helpful. We played for Southern Brave, we know each other's games. RCB is a great franchise, they have been very welcoming . [On what Mandhana told her] Surface was on the slower side. She kept telling me to get forward, I was staying back. She just batted so well tonight. It is a pleasure to bat with her.
Delhi Capitals captain Meg Lanning: Not our best night. We got off to a reasonable start, but we lost wickets too quickly. RCB bowled well to peg us back. Disappointing. The batters got in at times, but couldn't carry on. Not our best night. [Not in groove in WPL 2025] We can improve a lot from game one. We showed a lot of fight there. Tonight wasn't our best night. Lot of things to looks to forward and we need to come back strongly. [Dew?] It did get better to bat in the evening. But RCB picked their chances. They bowled well as well. The dew didn't play a part. RCB were too good tonight
10.44pm Proper NRR-boosting win for RCB, who are now the only unbeaten team in WPL 2025. Not for nothing are they the defending champions and RCB are showing their prowess. That is a dominating win from them over last year's finalists. The victory was setup by the bowlers, in particular, Renuka Singh and Georgia Wareham, who picked three wickets apiece. That restricted DC to 141, which was never going to be enough. Smriti Mandhana and Danni Wyatt-Hodge came out flying adding 107 for the opening wicket off just 10.5 overs. And the game was almost sealed there. DC did manage to pick two wickets, but there wasn't much for them this evening. There was a lot of dew which played a part but Mandhana just looked unstoppable. Her timing and placement was spot on as she smashed her highest score in WPL.
gops: "Extraordinary is an understatement. I don't think I've ever seen Mandhana stepping out and moving around the crease so frequently in an innings. And the best thing to watch was how she decided to muscle it instead when Sutherland began following her in the 13th over. An innings of brutal genius."
On a length on her pads, she works this to deep backward square leg
RCB need 3 runs in 24 balls. Last over of the game?
rssampat: "@ 15.1' Well, I would say that wicket was 80 runs too late.."
Banged in short. She eyes the pull, but misses
Three to win
SHOT! Juicy half-volley on off. Was the cross-seam delivery. Pandey laces the drive to the left of mid-off
Sijan: "Best knock from Smriti in RCB colours? Might think so .. she was near to perfection today with shot placement .." Agree
Good length ball on middle, she flicks this neatly to deep midwicket
Knee-high full toss on her pads, she helps this to deep backward square leg
Fuller in length on off, she drives towards cover
Richa Ghosh in at No. 4. Pandey is over the wicket
Also time for a time-out
She can't finish the game, but what a knock this has been from Mandhana. Shuffles right across to the fuller length ball well outside off and sort of pre-meditates the scoop. Gets too close to the ball and feebly mistimes to Reddy who sprints forward from short fine leg and completes the catch.
Pandey for a second spell. She is over the wicket. Already a career-best for Mandhana in WPL
Kishore: "Smriti has that flair of Ganguly in her game. A treat to watch "
Back of a length ball outside off, she cuts to point
Length ball outside off, she dabs with an open face of the blade but can't beat point
On a length on off, she punches to mid-off
Backs away again, but Reddy follows her as Mandhana mistimes the length ball to long-on
Fuller on leg stump, she backs away a touch and drives to mid-off
Around
Back of a length ball down leg, she helps this to deep backward square leg
Reddy back from over the wicket
ALL THE WAY! Flighted delivery outside off. She gets across, takes a couple of steps down the track and slams her in the gap between deep midwicket and long-on
Good length ball on middle and leg, she clips this to deep midwicket
Flatter on off, she punches to extra cover
Fuller just outside off, she shuffles across and pushes to long-on
Lovely! Floated outside off, she steps down the track, gets to the pitch and drives inside out over covers for another four
Huge appeal for lbw, not given. Tossed up outside off, she shuffles across and goes for a sweep. Misses and is rapped on the pad but was struck outside the line
Over 17 • RCB-W 146/2
RCB Women won by 8 wickets (with 22 balls remaining)