Meg Lanning Reflects on UP Warriorz's Defeat Against RCB in WPL
Lanning Acknowledges RCB's Dominance
Navi Mumbai (Maharashtra) [India], January 12: Meg Lanning, the captain of UP Warriorz Women, recognized that her team was outperformed by Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) during their recent Women’s Premier League (WPL) match on Monday.
She emphasized the necessity for improvement in their top order, noting that they faced too many dot balls in the early stages. Lanning also commended RCB's performance, stating they effectively controlled the game once they gained the upper hand.
A remarkable partnership of 137 runs between Grace Harris and captain Smriti Mandhana propelled RCB to a convincing nine-wicket victory in their WPL encounter in Navi Mumbai.
“We would have preferred to kick off with a couple of wins, but RCB clearly outplayed us tonight. Their bowling was impressive from the start, putting us under pressure and not allowing us to escape. It wasn’t our finest performance, but the silver lining is that the matches come quickly, allowing us to move on swiftly. Sometimes, that can actually work in our favor. We definitely have areas to improve, especially at the top of the order, myself included. We had too many dot balls early on. But credit goes to RCB; they were outstanding at the start and once they took the lead, they really pushed the game forward. We’ll analyze it, identify what we can enhance, and progress,” Lanning stated post-match.
Lanning also expressed uncertainty regarding Shikha Pandey's choice to bowl cross-seam with the new ball, mentioning that they would discuss it later. She praised Pandey, calling her one of the top bowlers in the league.
“I’m not entirely sure; we’ll have a conversation about it. Shikha is among the best bowlers in this competition, and she varies her approach—sometimes aiming for swing, other times hitting the pitch harder to extract something from the surface. Unfortunately, it didn’t work out tonight, but that’s part of the game. As for planning against Harris, it’s quite challenging once she finds her rhythm. She can hit all areas of the ground—she possesses immense power, and tonight she also demonstrated her ability to play straight down the ground. Once she gets into that groove, she’s tough to contain. Regrettably for us, she got going today, and we couldn’t stop her,” she added.
RCB opted to bowl first, reducing UPW to 50/5 before Deepti Sharma (45*) and Deandra Dottin (40*) helped the team recover to a respectable total of 143/5, with Nadine de Klerk and Shreyanka Patil each taking two wickets.
In response, Grace showcased impressive ball-striking with a quickfire 85 off 40 balls, while Smriti remained not out at 47. This marks RCB's second consecutive victory, while UPW faces their second straight defeat.
Brief Scores: UPW: 143/5 in 20 overs (Deepti Sharma 45*, Deandra Dottin 40*, Nadine de Klerk 2/28) lost to RCB: 145/1 in 12.1 overs (Grace Harris 85, Smriti Mandhana 47*, Shikha Pandey 1/28).