MATCH STORIES
Follow UsIn the last season of the WPL, RCB could only win two of their eight games.
Smriti Mandhana scored only 149 runs in eight innings last season, where her weakness against spin was readily exploited. While Sophie Devine had a very good season with 266 runs at a strike rate of 172.7, the fall of an early wicket often brought Ellyse Perry, who had a great season with 253 runs.
However, batting Perry at three left RCB with only Richa Ghosh and Heather Knight as batters with international experience. In that scenario, more often than not, the lack of an experienced Indian batter in the middle left a gap in RCB’s arsenal, which the opposition exploited.
Among the five teams, they had the second worst average (23.6) and balls/wicket (18.8) in the 7-15 overs phase. These are glaring numbers because they imply that RCB, on average, lost two batters in the middle-over phase every game while not scoring enough runs to balance it.
Someone like Perry, who has both high and low gears in her batting, is a perfect candidate to bat in the middle overs for RCB. However, that would have left the number 3 spot open. And when RCB tried Disha Kasat there, she was unable to make a positive impact.
In WPL 2024, Sabbhineni Meghana has already scored 89 runs in two innings at a strike rate of 123.6, with a match-winning 53 in the season opener. And the best part is that these runs have come while batting at three, allowing Perry to do her thing in the middle phase.
Perry couldn’t do that in the first game, but there are six more. And anyway, you don’t doubt legends like Ellyse Alexandra Perry, who extend their boundaries even when the world is their backyard.
As far as Meghana is concerned, she has had a stupendous start to the season so far. In RCB's first game against the UP Warriorz, she scored a 44-ball 53 and had a key role in taking RCB to 157 for 6, despite Devine, Mandhana, and Perry not scoring much.
Her acceleration stood out in that innings, even beyond the powerplay. In the WPL, she strikes at a higher rate in the middle overs than in the powerplay (133.3 compared to 114.29). Moreover, as far as the powerplay is concerned, she revealed after that game that RCB management and Mandhana had given her full freedom to utilise the powerplay, which she showed in ample measure against UPW.
She scored three consecutive fours against Grace Harris’s off-spin in the fifth over, lofting her over the in-field on all three occasions on both sides of the wicket.
In fact, if you look at her record against spin in all T20s, Meghana strikes at 119.33 compared to 100.5 against pace, averaging five runs more per dismissal in the process and hitting one boundary every 5.4 balls. The same pattern has continued this WPL, where she has struck at 129.8 against spin and just a run a ball against pace.
Moreover, when she plays spin on the front foot in T20s, she averages 48.6 and strikes at 143.1, scoring one boundary every 4 balls.
All these numbers enunciate one undeniable fact - Sabbhineni Meghana from Krishna, Andhra Pradesh, is a spin hitter.
With most WPL teams regularly using spinners in the powerplay, RCB have a batter who can scythe through them when the field is up. Moreover, if Devine falls early trying to go gung ho from ball one, RCB will have a very good batter against spin who can farm most of the strike while batting with Mandhana, who has her own shortcomings against the slower bowlers.
“I have got a lot of support from Smriti and the team,” Meghana said after the game against Gujarat Giants. “That has given me so much confidence to play my natural game and to take time (at the start). Just trying to stay relaxed and hitting whatever is in my area.”
There are six games left in the league stages for RCB. They have begun well, winning two in two. As the pitches go tired (signs are already visible), Meghana’s importance in the RCB batting order will only increase. She is the remedy to one of the key issues that ended RCB’s season prematurely.
