Smriti Mandhana and Grace Harris lit up DY Patil Stadium as they emerged as the WPL’s most prolific opening duo. The pair crushed UP Warriorz with a commanding 145-run partnership, powering Royal Challengers Bengaluru to a thumping nine-wicket victory.
After the match, the two shared a light-hearted moment and spoke about how their contrasting personalities have come together to form a formidable opening partnership. In a video shared by the Women’s Premier League on X, Smriti first hailed Grace’s batting and said she had the best seat at the non-striker’s end to witness the heroics.
The Indian opener also termed Harris an extrovert while calling herself an introvert. "The best seat in the box, I would say, because I didn't have to do anything. I just had to get her on strike. And not only that one over, but she also just whacked everyone.
It's just easy to bat when someone gets going. But again, I mean all the shots, it was just not sixes; it was like long sixes," the RCB skipper said of Harris. The Australian opener, in turn, praised Smriti’s technique and felt that her captain could hit the ball anywhere effortlessly.
"Well, it's very easy when you bat with Smriti because she's so calm and classy. I paid her to say that. When you're batting with Smriti, she's so elegant and free-flowing and technically correct that you don't feel like you have to overhit the ball. You watch her bat, and you're like, oh yeah, she can hit it there."
Smriti was also in awe of the muscle power that Harris possesses and revealed that her opening partner loves to do commentary while batting. "Grace, you don't have to swing it at 180 per cent; you only have to swing it at 90 per cent. With those muscles, you just have to hit the ball.
She does commentary on her own batting. Not only on my batting, but she also does commentary on my batting whenever I play a shot. I'm a bit of a hype girl out there at the moment," Smriti revealed. "And I just have to watch from the other end. At DY Patil, if you tell me that we win the toss and we're going to restrict them to 150 odd, I mean, we'll take that any day.
Going to chase 150 at this ground with the outfield it has, I just feel we're 15 to 20 runs ahead in the field. We have amazing fielding. Today's win is just about how good our execution was around the bowling," she added.