GAUTAMI Naik struck a fine half-century to steer Royal Challengers Bengaluru to a 61- run win over Gujarat Giants and ensure a top-three finish in the Women-s Premier League here on Monday. Unbeaten so far, RCB registered their fifth straight win in the tournament and became the first team to book a knockout berth.

 

Sent in to bat, table-toppers RCB didn-t have the best of starts, losing Grace Harris and Georgia Voll inside the second over with the scoreboard reading just nine before Naik held the innings together to take RCB to a respectable 178 for six. Chasing, GG never got their acts together from the word go, losing four wickets for 34 by the seventh over.

 

Beth Mooney, Sophie Devine, Anushka Sharma and Kanika Ahuja departed early. Brief Scores: RCB: 178 for 6 in 20 overs (G Naik 73; K Gautam 2-38) beat GG: 117 for 8 20 overs (A Gardner 54; S Satghare 3-21, N Klerk 2-17) by 61 runs.