Gujarat Giants captain Ash Gardner called correctly and elected to bowl in the first of their reverse fixtures, against Royal Challengers Bengaluru, at the M Chinnaswamy Stadium on Thursday evening.
Hemalatha, rated highly by Beth Mooney who was instrumental in signing her for Perth Scorchers in the WBBL, is seeking an upturn in recent form. So far, she has scores of 9, 0 and 4 in her first three games before being left out of their previous game against Delhi Capitals.
Rawat, the 23-year-old, was signed for a staggering INR 1.2 crore at the auction, primarily to cover up for the injured Asha Sobhana. She had figures of 1 for 26 off her two overs on WPL debut.
Currently placed third out of five teams, a win will vault RCB into the top two. They completed the highest successful chase in WPL history the last time these two sides met, on the opening night of the season, with Richa Ghosh and Kanika Ahuja muscling RCB home.
Gujarat Giants: 1 Beth Mooney (wk), 2 Harleen Deol, 3 D Hemalatha, 4 Ashleigh Gardner (capt), 5 Deandra Dottin, 6 Kashvee Gautam, 7 Phoebe Litchfield, 8 Bharti Fulmali, 9 Tanuja Kanwar, 10 Priya Mishra, 11 Meghna Singh
Royal Challengers Bengaluru: 1 Smriti Mandhana (capt), 2 Danni Wyatt-Hodge, 3 Ellyse Perry, 4 Raghvi Bist, 5 Richa Ghosh (wk), 6 Kanika Ahuja, 7 Georgia Wareham, 8 Sneh Rana, 9 Kim Garth, 10 Prema Rawat, 11 Renuka Singh
