Demolition job: Devine’s blinder, a 36-ball 99, knocked the stuffing out of the Giants’ assault.
| Photo Credit: SPORTZPICS/WPL
Royal Challengers Bangalore wanted some divine intervention to maintain its slender hopes alive. It got here within the type of an astounding innings from Sophie Devine.
Devine, on Saturday evening on the Brabourne Stadium right here, performed what must be one of many nice knocks in girls’s T20 cricket. It was power-hitting at its finest. Her 99 off simply 36 balls (9×4, 8×6) took RCB to an eight-wicket win towards Gujarat Giants, with 4.3 overs to spare.
She dwarfed the Giants’ complete of 188 for 4 — which had seemed above par given the scores in the previous few matches — in beautiful vogue. The Kiwi all-rounder started her present, slog-sweeping Ashleigh Gardner for a six within the second over, by which she struck one other six and three fours.
She continued in the identical vein as she hit the ball ferociously across the floor. Some of the largest sixes of the WPL got here from her bat. Her sensational knock ended, one wanting what would have been a well-deserved hundred: she was well-caught on the fringe of the circle by Ashwani Kumari at mid-off off Kim Garth.
Her opening stand of 125 with Smriti Mandhana (37, 31b, 5×4, 1×6) had put the chase on monitor. RCB was taken dwelling by Ellyse Perry (19 n.o., 12b) and Heather Knight (22 n.o., 15b).
Earlier, Laura Wolvaardt’s second successive fifty (68, 42b, 9×4, 2×6) and one other hard-hitting knock from Gardner (41, 26b, 6×4, 1×6) have been the highlights of Giants’ innings. Gardner couldn’t have imagined how Devine was going to make a mockery of her staff’s complete.
