It wasn’t an easy start for RCB. Renuka Singh struck with the final ball of the opening over, dismissing Grace Harris, who chipped a simple catch to mid-on. Georgia Voll, who made her RCB debut in the previous game and made a fifty, followed soon after, attempting a cut and losing her stumps.

Giants captain Ash Gardner brought herself on, eyeing a favourable match-up against Smriti Mandhana, but Mandhana countered her with a couple of boundaries. Naik at the other end took some time to get going. Her first boundary came off a drive, before a pick-up shot over deep square leg signalled her intent. But even after that, she was moving at just under run a ball. With the duo slowly rebuilding, they brought up their fifty-run stand at the end of the eighth over.

But Gardner returned in the ninth and showed why she dominated the match-up against Mandhana, removing her for the fourth time in the WPL in eight innings.

With Naik getting on with the rebuild, she also found the gaps occasionally. She got to her fifty off 42 balls as she became the first uncapped Indian player in the WPL to hit a half-century, also surviving a dropped catch shortly after. Ghosh, meanwhile, upped the tempo, hitting three sixes in her 20-ball stay before she was caught at long-on off a full toss, which she reviewed for no-ball to no avail.

After a solid start with the ball, Giants let the momentum slip away, conceding 94 runs in the middle overs. They also went on to concede 40 runs off the last four, with Radha Yadav and Shreyanka Patil taking Gautam for four fours in the last over. Giants were also sloppy on the field and conceded 21 runs as extras on the day, the joint second-most by a team in the WPL.

If Lauren Bell doesn’t get you, Sayali Satghare will. Giants may have escaped the first over from the clinical Bell, but lost both openers cheaply in the second over to Satghare – Beth Mooney bowled for 3 and Sophie Devine holing out for a duck.

It was then Bell’s turn as she got one to swing back in to knock Kanika Ahuja’s stumps over, leaving Giants at 5 for 3 at that point. Anushka Sharma, who was returning from an injury, then timed a few boundaries to perfection but could not build on the start, slicing a Nadine de Klerk slower ball to Radha. Giants went on to lose their next two batters cheaply, reeling at 56 for 6.

Chasing 163 off the final six overs, the equation was steep, but Gardner found her rhythm after a stuttering start. She took Radha for three boundaries and launched a big six off Bell to raise a fighting half-century. Satghare, however, returned to end Gardner’s resistance and finish with three wickets, as Giants eventually slipped to a big defeat.

Brief scores:

Royal Challengers Bengaluru Women 178 for 6 in 20 overs (Smriti Mandhana 26, Gautami Naik 73, Rich Ghosh 27, Radha Yadav 17; Renuka Singj 1-27, Kashvee  Gautam 2-38, Ashleigh Gardner 2-43, Sophie Dev8ne 1-25) beat Gujarat Giants Women  117 for 8 in 20 overs  (Anushka Sharma 18,  Ashleigh Gardner 54, Bharati Ful,ali 14, Tanuja Kanwar 11*; Lauren Bell 123, Sayal8  Satghare 3-21, Nadine de Klerk 2-17, Radha Yadav 1-34, Shreyanka Patil 1-19) by 61 runs

(Cricinfo)

Rasooli, by contrast, was more industrious, favouring cross-batted strokes to keep the scoreboard moving. He took a particular liking to Khary Pierre, striking him for 4, 6 and 4 in the 15th over to swing momentum back Afghanistan’s way after the pair had gone 18 deliveries without a boundary.

The duo put up a 162-run partnership for the third wicket to lift Afghanistan to a competitive total.

The pair was helped by a sequence of eight balls that saw three drops in the outfield during the 18th and 19th over. Seales and Joseph both were employing slower balls and cutters to great effect, but luck was not on their side. First, Gudakesh Motie dropped a sitter at long-on off Rasooli; in the same over, Evin Lewis ran in from deep midwicket to drop Zadran. Soon after, Zadran was dropped once again by Hetmeyer at long-off.

By the time Rasooli had finally holed out going for a pull off the last ball of the innings, the pair had piled on their 162-run partnership in the space of 17.4 overs.