After a lacklustre debut Women's Premier League (WPL) season, Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) came back well in the second season and managed to qualify for the eliminator. They made their way into playoffs after a convincing seven-wicket victory over defending champions Mumbai Indians (MI) as Ellyse Perry picked up a record-breaking six-wicket haul. RCB and MI are set for a rematch in the WPL 2024 eliminator on March 15 but Smriti Mandhana does not believe it has been a ‘really satisfying campaign’ yet.
"The only goal RCB had this year was we don't speak about the goal," Mandhana said, as quoted by ESPNcricinfo.
"I wouldn't say that [this has been a] really satisfying campaign still, but we had a lot of ups and downs. We started off really well and then had a little bit of dip. But that's how WPL and T20 cricket is. You'll have good days and bad days. It's really helping me as a player, as a captain, as an individual to just grow," she said.
Not an emotional person – Mandhana
RCB were involved in a few close games as well. They ended up on the losing side against Delhi Capitals (DC) at the Arun Jaitley Stadium, Delhi. Richa Ghosh was run out on the last ball of the innings and RCB lost the match by one run. The loss left Ghosh and Shreyanka Patil in tears but Mandhana held back her emotions.
"As I said, I'm not really an emotional person. Of course, especially being the captain, you can't really have that expression of sadness or happiness on your face, especially after that kind of a loss,” the 27-year-old said.
Mandhana, Perry in form
Mandhana has been impressive with the bat scoring 259 runs from eight matches at an average of 32.38 including two half-centuries. Her strike rate is an impressive 145.51. After Mandhana, Perry is RCB's second-highest run-scorer of the season. She scored 246 runs from seven games at an average of 61.50 including one half-century.
The winner of the eliminator clash will go up against Meg Lanning-led DC on March 17. DC won six out of eight league stage games.
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