Positives from the first half of WPL 2024 have been plentiful. But Smriti Mandhana’s onside play has probably been the most calming to the eyes of all. It was almost unfair that a batter of her calibre hadn’t completely embraced the leg side for the longest portion of her career. In the current WPL season, the captain of the RCB appears to have forgotten this reservation.
Although last week’s 195-run chase was not enough to overcome Mandhana’s opening fifty, on Monday she was the main attraction as RCB defeated UP Warriorz by a crucial 28 runs in the middle of the league stage. one in which they place among the top three before the Delhi leg.
The refined southpaw had established the atmosphere. After winning their first two games of the season, RCB was vulnerable, as Mandhana later acknowledged. “To show the intent straightaway” was the clear message following the loss of the toss. Early in the powerplay, the left-hander made a few maximums by wa
lking the talk. The second demonstrated how effortlessly she has defeated leg-side bowlers this season by lifting her front leg, bending her back leg, and hoisting it over wide long on.
Mandhana has improved her batting by staying deep in the crease to the spinners more frequently, in addition to her improved onside play. Her weak point has always been off-spinners, and Chamari Athapaththu nearly put her out of the game with a quicker one. Mandhana therefore chose as her boundaries the area behind the square on either side of the field. She scooped Athapaththu’s over fine leg in the same over. She used the width that the left-arm spinner offered off Sophie Ecclestone to gently dab down third man.
Mandhana eclipsed last week’s 74 against Delhi with her best WPL score of 80 off 50. Ellyse Perry, who broke the sponsor’s car window with a six and scored her first fifty of the season, batted with her for most of the inning.
Despite wickets falling at the other end, captain Alyssa Healy held the fort for UPW, and even 199 looked chaseable. Richa Ghosh flashed the bails in time to put RCB at the top of the points table, but Healy was undone by the ball going too far down her crease, unlike her counterpart.
