Mandhana’s RCB to aim for consolidation as UPW fret over Deepti’s form in WPL

Navi Mumbai: Having come through a trial by fire in their opening game against Mumbai Indians, Royal Challengers Bengaluru will look to build on those gains when they take on a star-studded UP Warriorz in the WPL here on Monday.

The Smriti Mandhana-led RCB, the 2024 champions, pulled off an astonishing three-wicket win against MI just on Friday, leaving Harmanpreet Kaur nonplussed, while South African stalwart Nadine de Klerk basked in the glory of a fine all-round showing, sealing the victory with the winning runs off the last ball of the innings.

While Mumbai Indians bounced back quickly with an assertive win over Delhi Capitals in their second game on Saturday, the hurt — and the memory of losing off the last ball when victory was virtually sealed — is likely to linger with them for the rest of the season.

But for Mandhana and RCB, it was a moment to cherish, and they will hope that de Klerk -- who scored an unbeaten 63 and picked up four wickets -- can recreate a similar performance against UP Warriorz.

Mandhana would also want her top-order batters, including herself, to get among the runs, given that de Klerk was the lone standout in the previous match while the rest endured below-par outings.

The top five batters — Grace Harris, Mandhana, Dayalan Hemalatha, Richa Ghosh and Radha Yadav — will need to step up, while in the bowling department much more will be expected from the likes of Arundhati Reddy, Shreyanka Patil and Radha, who conceded the most runs against MI. UP Warriorz, too, had their share of disappointments, none more glaring than all-rounder Deepti Sharma, the costliest Indian buy at Rs 3.2 crore in the WPL auction.

She endured a forgettable outing against Gujarat Giants in a day game on Saturday, as her team went down by 10 runs, with the star cricketer finishing wicketless and scoring just one run in the chase of a daunting 207.

UP Warriorz’s new skipper Meg Lanning would like her ace all-rounder to quickly find her rhythm and will also expect wholesome contributions from opener Kiran Navgire and Harleen Deol at the top.