It was an evening of role reversal in the continuing mutual admiration saga between skipper Smriti Mandhana and her opening partner, the great New Zealand all-rounder Sophie Devine. After overawing Smriti with her blitzing 99 during the inaugural WPL last year, it was Sophie’s turn to return the compliment as she watched her captain smash 74 against RCB’s Delhi opponents on Thursday at Chinnaswamy Stadium.
Smriti’s knock in an opening stand of 77 with Sophie was the brightest point for RCB in their first loss of the season following back-to-back victories, and drew praise from the New Zealand captain.
“Yeah, look, I’m super proud of Smriti. I think last season was pretty tough for her. For her to come out and bat the way that she has this year has been fantastic. I think the way that she’s batted, the way that she’s captained the team has been outstanding, and it’s really oozed confidence,” Sophie said.
“It was quite different for me to be standing down there today while she was smacking it to all corners. But that’s the great thing about cricket and about T20 cricket is there’s going to be times where in the partnership that you’re going to take different roles. And for me today, it was just sitting back and watching her slog it round the ground.
Sophie, who put up an all-round show with 2/23 for three overs before striking 23 off 17, has been impressed with the skipper’s handling of her bowling attack so far.
She also remarked that RCB had a well-rounded bowling attack with “literally every option possible” but had an off day on Thursday. “But we back ourselves to come back strongly against Mumbai,” Sophie further added.
RCB will now take on the Mumbai team in their fourth home game at Chinnaswamy Stadium on Saturday.