Beth Mooney is No. 1 T20 batter and she proved it against RCB: Reema Malhotra

The Gujarat Giants picked up their first win of the WPL 2024 beating the Royal Challengers Bangalore by 19 runs on Thursday. JioCinema and Sports18 WPL expert Reema Malhotra discussed the match-winning performance of Beth Mooney (85* runs) on ‘Match Center Live’. Excerpts:

Reema Malhotra spoke on Beth Mooney’s knock: “She’s happy today because the bat spoke on her behalf. Thinking like a player, when you can't score consistently, that disappointment comes through in your captaincy. Today, her captaincy was proactive and she looked involved. Until now, she was looking lost and looking for her own form. The second she found it, we saw good captaincy and bowling changes. The way she used Tanuja (Kanwar), I knew that she had identified her go-to bowler. She’s the No. 1 T20 batter and today it was clear why she has the #1 next to her name.”

Smriti likes to chase but she made a costly mistake: Malhotra

Malhotra on Gujarat's win: “This was a big win against an in-form RCB. Who do you depend on in a do-or-die game? Your captain, hoping she leads from the front. We saw that innings from Beth Mooney tonight. We saw it in Laura Wolvaardt's batting tonight. They are big-match players. I think this ground is good for technically sound players looking to find their form and that’s what we saw today. Gujarat was the better team in all three departments tonight.”

Malhotra on RCB’s performance: “Gujarat had set a huge total. Smriti (Mandhana) likes to chase but she made a costly mistake while facing (Ashleigh) Gardner, who dismissed her for the eighth time tonight. There was a lack of rhythm in the RCB batting. There were many opportunities to build a partnership but poor running between the wickets. They could never grab a foothold in the match.”