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It rained sixes in Mumbai on Saturday, as Sophie Devine smashed 99 off 36 deliveries against the Gujarat Giants to lead the Royal Challengers Bangalore to their second win of the inaugural Women's Premier League (WPL).
The Kiwi smashed nine fours and eight sixes, including a towering 95-metre strike into the top tier. However, she fell tantalizingly short of adding her name to the history books by bringing up the first ever hundred in the WPL. But she was more than pleased with her innings, as it kept RCB's hopes of qualifying for the playoffs alive.
Speaking about her innings in her post-match comments, Devine said:
"I've talked to Virat kohli when he visited our camp, his advices just changed my batting approach. I was bit unlucky I got out on 99."
She added:
"I was in the zone, milestones don't get to me so at 99 it wasn't about a drop and run, it was about getting the my team home earlier."
With her blitzkrieg in Brabourne, Sophie Devine surpassed Meg Lanning of the Delhi Capitals for most runs in the tournament. The win also helped RCB, who lost their first five matches of the tournament, leapfrog GG in the WPL points table and stay alive in the race for the playoffs.
Tweets and reactions poured in from all corners as cricket fans were left awestruck by Sophie Devine's innings.
One user wrote:
"A standing ovation to one of the greatest knocks in Women's T20 cricket. Take a bow, Sophie Devine!"
Here are some of the best reactions from Twitter:
Giants languish at the bottom of the table
The Gujarat Giants rode on the back of a half-century from Laura Wolvaardt and cameos from Sabbhineni Meghana, Ashleigh Gardner and Dayalan Hemalatha to pose a challenging target of 188/4 in their stipulated 20 overs.
The loss, their third in their last four matches, means that the Giants are now level on points with RCB but last in the standings owing to their poorer NRR.
RCB will look to carry on their winning run when they next play the table-toppers Mumbai Indians on Tuesday, who suffered their first loss of the season against the UP Warriors earlier in the day.
