One of the few things the Women’s Premier League did not have last season was a memorable innings from Smriti Mandhana. It did not sit well that one of the only two Indian captains, and probably the captain of the future, was underperforming. There aren’t many batters in the world of cricket as calm to watch as the southpaw, so it was always going to be paisa vasool to see her perform in the T20 format.
After 11 innings, the captain of the RCB made his grand entrance on Thursday with a stylish 74. Her effortless knock, though, was for nothing as Royal Challengers Bangalore fell to the Delhi Capitals by a score of 25 runs, a defeat that will likely haunt them for some time.
In order to have any chance of winning against a crafty Delhi bowling attack and chase down 195, RCB needed their captain to get going right away. That’s exactly what she would do.
A few nights prior, Marizanne Kapp’s new ball had rendered celebrities like Alyssa Healy and Tahlia McGrath useless. However, Mandhana chose to go after her from the first over, prompting Delhi to alter their plans at the last minute.
More than any other kind, off-spinners have defeated her, but Mandhana was unfazed by the introduction of a young Minnu Mani and proceeded to bully her for a few more boundaries.
Afterwards, DC captain Meg Lanning attempted to replicate the same angular advantage with her left-arm orthodox against Jess Jonassen, a more seasoned spinner. However, the boundaries kept growing, and soon Delhi was being squeezed.
After serving up a juicy full toss, Arundhati Reddy received a six, which was just punishment. Known for her measured delivery and length, Shikha Pandey added another as Mandhana assisted RCB in reaching the 50-point point during the powerplay.
The exhibition was really impressive. The fact that there was only one enforcer made it even more notable. Shafali Verma, Alice Capsey, Kapp, and Jonassen shared the load to push Delhi to 194, but the RCB chase was mainly dependent on their captain’s strokeplay in the middle. For most of her innings, veteran Sophie Devine struggled to time the ball on the other end from Mandhana. It was a credit to their captain that the RCB were still neck and neck at the halfway point.
Her cover drive, which is well worth the accolades it receives, is no longer the only thing that can be used to judge her. The bat trails along as she deftly navigates around even the tightest off-side fields while maintaining her form. However, Mandhana nearly refused to play in front of square on the off side on Thursday. The occasional delivery that was not quite long enough to reach the off stump was also picked and placed down the leg. She would later confess, “I have been working on increasing my shot range.”
A few pictures caught our attention. First, in the opening over, she hit her first boundary off Kapp. She turned her blade at the last moment to loft the ball over the infield with a gentle whip over mid-wicket. Even better was a six she struck off the South African all-rounder later in her innings. With her length, Kapp was precisely on target, making it fuller and angling it into the left-hander. In order to align himself and produce sufficient force for a flick shot that cleared the mid-wicket fence, Mandhana would shuffle across.
Mandhana’s application was so good that evening that, in the rare event that she misjudged a delivery, the captain of the RCB quickly corrected it. Similar to moving forward down the track off a potential stumping trap, not expecting to have to make an additional turn down the leg side, and then hurriedly flicking the ball down square leg for a single.
It was possibly insensitive that her demise resulted from an attempt to drive on the wrong side on a night when she appeared almost flawless. She missed the ball and Kapp got the last laugh as she retreated for a slower one that was heading for the off stump. Delhi did the same, and the remaining RCB batsmen were unable to complete the task.
Mandhana stated at the beginning of the match that the pre-season team’s mantra had been, “Not to depend on certain players and all the XI are good enough to win a game on their own.” However, it was a one-woman show on Thursday. A long-awaited one for which WPL and RCB had been waiting.
