Mumbai. Gujarat Giants, trying to stop their recent losing streak, will face a tough challenge from top-ranked Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) in the Women’s Premier League here on Friday. After being on top in the six-team tournament for some time, Gujarat Giants slipped to third place after their defeat against Mumbai Indians on Tuesday while former champions RCB reached the top with consecutive wins.

RCB team is getting stronger with each match. They achieved the target of 144 runs against UP Warriors in less than 13 overs. The most positive thing for the team is the return of captain Smriti Mandhana to form.

Smriti handled one end with patience while her opening partner Grace Harris batted stormily. Gujarat will have to find a way to stop RCB’s strong batting line-up which also includes the in-form Nadine de Klerk and the dangerous Richa Ghosh.

Gujarat team is trying to recover from the defeat against Mumbai Indians. The team’s fielding was very poor in that match in which Harmanpreet Kaur got three lives and she led Mumbai to victory by scoring 71 runs in 43 balls. The positive thing for Gujarat Giants is the good performance of Kanika Ahuja at number three after Anushka Sharma’s injury.

After being out in the first match and batting at number eight against Delhi Capitals, Kanika impressed at number three against Mumbai by hitting four fours and two sixes in her innings of 35 runs. After Ayushi Soni retired out, Bharti Fulmali also showed her ability by playing some good shots.

However, if Gujarat has to match the batting prowess of RCB, they will be hoping for better performances from established names like Sophie Devine, Beth Mooney and captain Ashley Gardner. The team’s bowlers will also have to improve their performance. Both Renuka Singh and Kashvi Gautam failed to make an impact against Mumbai’s top-order batsmen.

The teams are as follows:

Gujarat Giants: Ashley Gardner (captain), Beth Mooney, Sophie Devine, Renuka Singh Thakur, Bharti Fulmali, Titas Sadhu, Kashvi Gautam, Kanika Ahuja, Tanuja Kanwar, Georgia Wareham, Anushka Sharma, Happy Kumari, Kim Garth, Yastika Bhatia, Shivani Singh, Danny Watt Hodge, Rajeshwari Gaikwad, Ayushi Soni.

Royal Challengers Bangalore: Smriti Mandhana (captain), Richa Ghosh, Shreyanka Patil, Georgia Woll, Nadine de Klerk, Radha Yadav, Lauren Bell, Lynsey Smith, Prema Rawat, Arundhati Reddy, Pooja Vastrakar, Grace Harris, Gautami Naik, Pratyusha Kumar, D. Hemalatha, Sayali Satghare. Timing: The match will be played from 7.30 pm onwards.