New Delhi, Jan 19 (IANS) Gujarat Giants (GG) veteran all-rounder Sophie Devine said her side is relishing the chance to play in front of home fans and wishes to keep things simple as they prepare to face table toppers Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) to kickstart the Vadodara-leg of Women’s Premier League (WPL) on Monday evening.

GG will be looking to bounce back after suffering a 32-run defeat to RCB three days ago at the DY Patil Stadium in Navi Mumbai. “Firstly, I think it’s really exciting to be back home. It’s a really exciting opportunity to play in front of home fans. To be able to come up against RCB, who are obviously going really well – this tournament obviously had four wins in a row, and they’re playing some really strong cricket.

“So for us, I think it’s about keeping it really simple. We know that when we play our best cricket, we can beat any team in this competition. We’re really excited to be able to play in front of our home fans and hopefully get a couple of wins,” said Sophie in a video on WPL’s social media accounts.

The RCB, led by Smriti Mandhana, have set the pace in the five-team tournament by being the lone unbeaten side in the competition — accumulating eight points from four games. GG, captained by Ashleigh Gardner, are in third place with four points from as many matches.

A total of six WPL matches have been played at the BCA Stadium so far, all of which came in 2025. Interestingly, teams batting second have emerged victorious in all six WPL games in Vadodara. The GG-RCB clash will be followed by Harmanpreet Kaur-captained Mumbai Indians taking on Jemimah Rodrigues-led Delhi Capitals on Tuesday evening.

In the corresponding clash in the first leg, RCB maintained their perfect start to the 2026 WPL with a 32-run victory over Gujarat Giants after a standout maiden five-wicket haul from off-spin bowling all-rounder Shreyanka Patil at the Dr. DY Patil in Navi Mumbai.

Royal Challengers Bengaluru had recovered from a shaky start after losing four wickets in the Power-play, with Radha Yadav emerging as the unlikely saviour by hitting 66 off 42 balls — her maiden WPL fifty and adding 105 runs for the fifth wicket with Richa Ghosh, who hit 44 off 28 deliveries, while Nadine de Klerk’s late cameo of 26 lifted the total to 182/7.

–IANS

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