NEWS
Follow UsSabbhineni Meghana made the best use of her chances and scored a vital fifty in the second match of Women's Premier League (WPL) 2024 against UP Warriorz at the M. Chinnaswamy Stadium, Bengaluru to take Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) to 157 for 6, which was good enough for them to get off to a winning start.
Meghana, who hit a 44-ball 53, reveals that her skipper, Smriti Mandhana, advised her to make the best of the powerplay despite losing a wicket early.
“Smriti just told me this is my first time going one down. I was an opening batter all these years. So she was just telling me, like, utilise the powerplay as much as you can. Get those boundaries like how you bat naturally in the powerplay," Meghana said in the post-match press conference.
“So even in the role clarity meetings we had, that’s what we were discussing, that if there’s an early wicket, you walk in and you still use the power play. There’s no pressure on you to stay there or whatever. So I was just in my head that if it’s in my range, I just have to go for it."
On her experience of batting with Mandhana, Meghana said, “It’s just that there’s no pressure batting with her. We are getting those boundaries, singles, there’s no pressure. Like almost 8-10 runs per over easily we were getting. We wanted to continue that as long as possible so that we can get a good total on the board,” she said.
While Grace Harris (38) and Shweta Sehrawat (31) threatened to take the game away from RCB, leg-spinner Asha Sobhana brought RCB back into the game with a brilliant five-wicket haul to help her side to a two-run victory.
Their dismissals in quick succession was the turning point in the game, UPW mentor Lisa Sthalekar admitted.
“The strategic time-out, when it was taken while both Shweta and Grace Harris were flying and the stop in the play allowed RCB to get back into the game and then losing those three wickets in that over. It makes a huge difference, especially considering the dismissal of Shweta and Grace, our two set batters, was the turning point," she said after the match.
Sthalekar was also pleased to see less dew in the outfield, allowing the spinners to dominate proceedings.
“It turned much more in the second innings. The dew did not come in, and it was the used pitch from the previous night, so their spinners were able to extract a little more side spin. When the ball begins to move around, it becomes difficult to control and hard to score off. The spin has worked, and as a former spinner, I was delighted to see them dominate,” she stated.
Having gotten off to the perfect start, RCB will hope to make it two in two when they take on Gujarat Giants on Tuesday (February 27) at the same venue. Warriorz will be in action a day before against Delhi Capitals (DC), also in Bengaluru.
