The toss result was much to the delight of the local crowd who once again packed the stadium in numbers. Mandhana confirmed that there were no changes in the RCB side from the first match where they beat UP Warriorz in a last-ball thriller.

“It is always good to know what you are chasing in T20 cricket,” Mandhana said at the toss. “Close finishes are always great to win. We have to keep things simple and go out and play the best brand of cricket.”

Gujarat Giants, the wooden spooners from last season, had a less-than-ideal start to WPL 2024 where they went down to Mumbai Indians heavily. Despite the defeat, they stuck to the same combination and were unchanged. That meant there was still no place for Laura Wolvaardt in the playing XI with Giants sticking with the opening combination of Veda Krishnamurthy and Beth Mooney.

Mooney said that her team wasn’t overawed with the crowd and rather wanted to embrace it. “We have to believe in the method and not worry about the results,” she said.

The pitch is the same as the one used for the match between UP Warriorz and Delhi Capitals on Monday. There was a little help for the fast bowlers early on with the surface on the sluggish side.

A win could well help RCB rise to the top of the table while Giants will dearly hope to get on the board.

Royal Challengers Bangalore: 1 Smriti Mandhana (capt), 2 Sophie Devine, 3 S Meghana, 4 Ellyse Perry, 5 Richa Ghosh (wk), 6 Sophie Molineux, 7 Georgia Wareham, 8 Shreyanka Patil, 9 Simran Bahadur, 10 Sobhana Asha, 11 Renuka Singh

Gujarat Giants: 1 Beth Mooney (capt & wk), 2 Veda Krishnamurthy, 3 Harleen Deol, 4 Phoebe Litchfield, 5 Ashleigh Gardner, 6 Dayalan Hemalatha, 7 Sneh Rana, 8 Tanuja Kanwar, 9 Kathryn Bryce, 10 Lea Tahuhu, 11 Meghna Singh