WPL 2023: Smriti Mandhana finishes tournament without any half-century, fails to fire against Mumbai Indians

Star India batter Smriti Mandhana became a part of history as she was the first player to be sold at the Women’s Premier League auction in February 2023. She also turned out to be the most expensive player at the event getting sold for a whopping INR 3.4 crore to Royal Challengers Bangalore.

However, Mandhana couldn’t do justice to her ‘most expensive player’ title as she failed to score even a single half-century in eight matches in the tournament. The RCB captain could only score 149 runs in eight innings at an average of 18.62 and a strike rate of 111.19 while also recording one duck.

In her final innings of WPL 2023 against Mumbai Indians on March 21, she was dismissed for 24 off 25 balls as she once again fell prey to a spinner. Out of her eight dismissals in the tournament, seven have been against spinners as she’s been caught inside the circle trying to get a move on in her innings.

Mandhana came into the WPL having finished as India’s highest run scorer in the Women’s T20 World Cup 2023 held in February scoring 151 runs in four innings at an average of 37.75 with two half-centuries. However, her low returns with the bat coupled with her team’s winless run in the first five games exacerbated things for her.

RCB were knocked out following UP's win over Gujarat in Match 17

RCB finally returned to winning ways after losing their first five matches on the trot and registered back-to-back wins against UP Warriorz and Gujarat Giants. Their hopes of qualification to the knockout stage were pinned on UP’s loss in their last two fixtures. However, all of their hopes were crushed as the Alyssa Healy-led side beat Gujarat Giants on March 20 and sealed a spot in the Eliminator game of the tournament.

RCB will look to end their tournament on a high by beating Mumbai Indians in their last fixture being played at Dr DY Patil Sports Academy in Navi Mumbai. After being put in to bat first, they could only manage to score 125/9 in their allotted 20 overs.

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