Who’s playing
Royal Challengers Bengaluru vs UP Warriorz
M Chinnaswamy Stadium, Bengaluru, 7.30pm IST
A lot of things are working for Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB). So they would not want to dwell on the loss to Mumbai Indians, and instead get back to winning ways in their second home game of the season. The major talking point from that loss was RCB’s middle order collapsing around Ellyse Perry. Despite posting just 167, the likes of Kim Garth, Georgia Wareham and Ekta Bisht still took the defence to last over. Hence there’s no need to panic yet. With just one defeat from three matches, RCB top the points table.
Unlike RCB, UP Warriorz have just got their first points in three games with a thumping win over Delhi Capitals. They would want their openers to start strong and will hope Tahlia McGrath and Grace Harris pick up pace with the bat as they head into crucial phase of the tournament. They haven’t done particularly well in the middle overs, either slowing down or losing wickets in a cluster in this phase. They had Chinelle Henry’s explosive innings down the order in the last game, and then their bowlers got the job done. They would be keen to carry this momentum forward to move up the table.
RCB are unlikely to tinker.
RCB (likely): 1 Smriti Mandhana (capt), 2 Danni Wyatt-Hodge, 3 Ellyse Perry, 4 Raghvi Bist, 5 Richa Ghosh (wk), 6 Kanika Ahuja, 7 Georgia Wareham, 8 Ekta Bisht, 9 Kim Garth, 10 VJ Joshitha, 11 Renuka Singh
Left-arm spinner Rajeshwari Gayakwad was replaced by seamer Saima Thakor in Warriorz’s first match in Bengaluru. With the conditions offering assistance to pace bowlers, they might continue to have Thakor in the XI.
UP Warriorz (likely): 1 Kiran Navgire, 2 Vrinda Dinesh, 3 Deepti Sharma, 4 Tahlia McGrath, 5 Shweta Sehrawat, 6 Grace Harris, 7 Uma Chetry (wk), 8 Chinelle Henry, 9 Sophie Ecclestone, 10 Saima Thakor, 11 Kranti Goud
Players to watch: Smriti Mandhana and Kranti Goud
Smriti Mandhana likes the Chinnaswamy Stadium. The last time India played three ODIs in Bengaluru, she scored two hundreds and a 90 against South Africa. When RCB played five games at this venue last year, she smashed 219 runs at a strike rate of 154.22. Her last season’s highest score of 80 also came against Warriorz here. In her previous two games, she’s got 26 off 13, and 81 off off 47. Don’t bet against more fireworks from Mandhana.
Kranti Goud bowled a dream spell against Capitals on Saturday, claiming a four-wicket haul. She used the movement off the pitch to account for Capitals’ top order and Jess Jonassen. After going wicketless in the first two matches, this performance would have given the youngster a lot of confidence in her debut WPL season.