A valiant 66 from Sophie Devine went in vain as Royal Challengers Bangalore suffered a 11-run defeat against Gujarat Giants for their third straight loss of WPL 20233 at the Brabourne Stadium, here on Wednesday.<\/p>\r\n\r\n
With immense pressure of chasing down 202, Sophie slammed eight fours and two sixes in her 45-ball knock while sharing a 54-run opening partnership with Smriti Mandhana and a promising stand of 43 runs with Ellyse Perry.<\/p>\r\n\r\n
Heather Knight also landed some big blows. But Gujarat taking five wickets after the half-way stage meant Bangalore ended up at 190\/6 in 20 overs and are now rooted to the bottom of points table.<\/p>\r\n\r\n
Smriti got Bangalore's chase off to a solid start by hitting two boundaries off Tanuja Kanwer in the second over. Sophie joined the party by slashing and pulling off Kim Garth to collect back-to-back fours, with Smriti ending the over with her trademark cover drive.<\/p>\r\n\r\n
Sophie upped the ante by pulling off Ashleigh Gardner for four while clipping, bringing a forehand smash and slap down the ground against Annabel Sutherland for a hat-trick of boundaries in the fifth over.<\/p>\r\n\r\n
Bangalore lost Smriti in the fifth over when she miscued a heave to mid-on off Ashleigh in the last over of power-play. Though they slowed down a little, Ellyse hit five delightful boundaries to give much-needed acceleration to Bangalore's chase.<\/p>\r\n\r\n
Just when it looked like Ellyse would shift gears, Mansi Joshi took her out as the right-handed batter gave a simple catch to backward point. Though Richa Ghosh's stumps were in a mess against Ashleigh Gardner, Sophie continued to march forward.<\/p>\r\n\r\n
As Kim Garth made a return to the bowling attack in the 13th over, Sophie took a brace of boundaries through mid-wicket and long-off, before getting her fifty in 36 balls. After slogging off Tanuja over deep mid-wicket, Sophie pulled off Annabel into the same region. But on the very next ball, she holed out to long-on.<\/p>\r\n\r\n
Despite losing Sophie, Heather reverse-swept and chipped over cover off Ashleigh. She then tore into an erring Annabel, hitting a hat-trick of well-timed fours in the 17th over. From the other end, Kanika Ahuja took two boundaries off Sneh Rana, but was stumped off Ashleigh in the 19th over.<\/p>\r\n\r\n
Annabel took out Poonam Khemnar on the first ball of the last over, and despite Shreyanka Patil hitting a six and four respectively, she was able to defend 24 in the final over as Gujarat got off the mark in points table.<\/p>\r\n\r\n
Brief Scores: Gujarat Giants 201\/7 in 20 overs (Harleen Deol 67, Sophia Dunkley 65; Heather Knight 2\/17, Shreyanka Patil 2\/32) beat Royal Challengers Bangalore 190\/6 in 20 overs (Sophie Devine 66, Ellyse Perry 32; Ashleigh Gardner 3\/32, Annabel Sutherland 2\/56) by 11 runs.<\/p>\r\n\r\n
Annabel took out Poonam Khemnar on the first ball of the last over, and despite Shreyanka Patil hitting a six and four respectively, she was able to defend 24 in the final over as Gujarat got off the mark in points table.<\/p>\r\n\r\n