19:29 The players are in the middle, Sophie Devine has the new ball in hand.
19:01 The media news is that Gujarat Giants won the toss and elected to bat first.
Gujarat captain Sneh Rana: “I am very happy with the positive attitude of the girls and hope they continue. 160-165 seems to be on par on this ground.”
RCB Smriti Mandhana Captain: “Even if we lose the toss, we want to win the game and we wanted to play anyway. One changes: Renuka misses and Preeti comes in for her.” Gujarat has also made a change with the departure of Mansi and the entry of Meghana.
XI Gujarat Giants: 1 Sophia Dunkley, 2 Laura Wolvaardt, 3 Harleen Deol, 4 Ashleigh Gardner, 5 Dayalan Hemalatha, 6 Sabbineni Meghana, 7 Ashwani Kumari, 8 Sushma Verma (week), 9 Kim Garth, 10 Sneh Rana, 11 Tanuja Kanwar.
RCB XI: 1 Sophie Devine, 2 Smriti Mandhana (ch.), 3 Ellyse Perry, 4 Heather Knight, 5 Kanika Ahuja, 6 Richa Ghosh (week), 7 Shreyanka Patil, 8 Disha Kasat, 9 Sobhana Asha, 10 Megan Schutt, 11 Preeti Bose .
18:45 Hello and welcome to ESPNcricinfo’s live coverage of the second half of today’s WPL 2023 doubleheaders as Royal Challengers Bangalore Women take on Gujarat Giants Women. The first half of the twin bill has just ended with the UP Warriorz beating the Mumbai Indians by three wickets with five balls to spare at the DY Patil Stadium to hand Mumbai their first defeat of the tournament.
While Mumbai now finally have their first loss, RCB only have one win, which came against UP Warriorz in their last match. They’re looking to make it two in a row today, a result that would also keep their slim playoff hopes alive. A loss would eliminate them from playoff contention. Gujarat need a win to close the gap behind UP Warriorz for the third and final playoff spot.
