The players and umpires are out there, nearly ready for the first ball

Teams:

Gujarat Giants (Playing XI): Beth Mooney(w/c), Veda Krishnamurthy, Harleen Deol, Phoebe Litchfield, Dayalan Hemalatha, Ashleigh Gardner, Kathryn Bryce, Sneh Rana, Tanuja Kanwar, Lea Tahuhu, Meghna Singh

Royal Challengers Bangalore Women (Playing XI): Sophie Devine, Smriti Mandhana(c), Sabbhineni Meghana, Ellyse Perry, Richa Ghosh(w), Georgia Wareham, Sophie Molineux, Shreyanka Patil, Simran Bahadur, Asha Sobhana, Renuka Thakur Singh

Beth Mooney | GGT captain: You need to try and embrace a crowd like this. We've had a few meeting here and there, these tournaments happen really quickly, we need to believe in the method and get the processes right before we get the results. We've got some world class players, some of them will have to miss out but opportunities will come by. No changes.

Smriti Mandhana | RCB captain: We would like to field first. There's something in it in the first 5 overs and I think it's always good to get a look in T20 cricket. Last game was brilliant, close wins are always special and they get the team going. We want to play the best brand of cricket. The first game was definitely important but it's also important to forget the past and keep moving. Same team.

Royal Challengers Bangalore Women have won the toss and have opted to field

Pitch report by Rohan Gavaskar: Gentle breeze going across the ground. Expect it to be a full house tonight. Pitch no.9, same as yesterday. 48m and 61m square boundaries, 63m down the ground. Expect some runs on this surface. It's rolled very well, pitch looks hard. 155-160 will be competetive score.

18:20 Local Time, 12:50 GMT, 18:20 IST: Two teams that've had contrasting results in their respective first games face each other today. RCB won a last-ball thriller against the UPW just a couple of nights ago while the Giants were overcome by Mumbai in their first encounter. Far too early in the tournament to make any judgements though. These are quality teams with world class athletes and that's what makes these WPL clashes so exciting. There's always promise of action and drama and it should be no different today. We're here to bring you all the action, starting with the toss and team-sheets very shortly.

Preview

There was very little to separate Gujarat Giants and Royal Challengers Bangalore last season, with both teams finishing at the bottom of the table with two wins each in eight games.

It's still early days in the 2024 edition of the Women's Premier League and they have started out in contrasting fashion. While RCB edged out UP Warriorz in a last ball finish to make a winning start in this season, Gujarat Giants were outplayed by Mumbai Indians. In a tournament where games have gone down to last-ball finishes, Giants have been the only laggards in the pack.

Despite a big reshuffle to their squad, their fortunes haven't changed much. The withdrawal of Lauren Cheatle and injury to Kashvee Gautam has admittedly affected the combination they had planned heading into the tournament, but that's only a part of the problem. They were first undone by Shabnim Ismail's pace and Amelia Kerr's spin, and then in their own undoing, faulted multiple times over in the field.

The crowd support is expected to be tilted towards RCB, and in that pressure Giants will have to stamp their authority and get off the mark in 2024.

When: Tuesday, February 27, 2023, 7:30 PM IST

Where: Royal Challengers Bangalore vs Gujarat Giants, M Chinnaswamy Stadium, Bengaluru

What to expect: There has been a bit of advantage for teams batting second, with the ball holding up a bit, especially in the first half of the first innings. The lower floodlights have needed some adjusting to for the fielders as many catches have been dropped so far already in the tournament

Team News:

Royal Challengers Bangalore: The hosts might want their big stars - Smriti Mandhana, Sophie Devine and Ellyse Perry - to fire, but they are unlikely to make too many changes. If they wish to add muscle to their pace attack, either Kate Cross or Nadine de Klerk could come in for Sophie Molineux, who bowled well in the last game.

Probable XI: Smriti Mandhana, Sophie Devine, S Meghana, Ellyse Perry, Richa Ghosh, Sophie Molineux, Georgia Wareham, Shreyanka Patil, Simran Bahadur, S Asha, Renuka Thakur

Gujarat Giants: Not much went Gujarat's way in the opening encounter but it's probably too early to panic and make changes to their XI already. They could be tempted to add muscle to their batting with the inclusion of Laura Wolvaardt at the cost of going slightly imbalance and inexperienced in the bowling department.

Probable XI: Beth Mooney, Veda Krishnamurthy, Harleen Deol, Phoebe Litchfield, Ash Gardner, D Hemalatha, Kathryn Bryce, Tanuja Kanwar, Sneh Rana, Lea Tahuhu, Meghana Singh

What they said:

"We let ourselves down in the first ten overs. Credit has to go to TK (Tanuja Kanwar) and (Katherine) Bryce to get us to a defendable total. We were 20 runs short in the end to make it a challenging chase. Lot to take away from the first innings" - Beth Mooney after the Gujarat Giants' loss against MI

"The crowd gave us an extra 20 runs in the chase" - Sophie Molineux on the crowd support for RCB during the game against UPW.

Squads:

Gujarat Giants Squad: Beth Mooney(w/c), Veda Krishnamurthy, Harleen Deol, Phoebe Litchfield, Dayalan Hemalatha, Ashleigh Gardner, Kathryn Bryce, Sneh Rana, Tanuja Kanwar, Lea Tahuhu, Meghna Singh, Laura Wolvaardt, Tarannum Pathan, Mannat Kashyap, Shabnam Md Shakil, Sayali Satghare, Priya Mishra, Trisha Poojitha

Royal Challengers Bangalore Women Squad: Sophie Devine, Smriti Mandhana(c), Sabbhineni Meghana, Ellyse Perry, Richa Ghosh(w), Georgia Wareham, Sophie Molineux, Shreyanka Patil, Simran Bahadur, Asha Sobhana, Renuka Thakur Singh, Indrani Roy, Shubha Satheesh, Shraddha Pokharkar, Disha Kasat, Nadine de Klerk, Kate Cross, Ekta Bisht