"Celebrating women's day in style!" - Fans erupt as Sophia Dunkley smashes fastest fifty for GG vs RCB in WPL 2023

Gujarat Giants batter Sophia Dunkley smashed the fastest fifty in the ongoing Women’s Premier League (WPL 2023) on Wednesday, March 8.

After failing to deliver against the UP Warriorz (13 runs) in her previous game, Dunkley came out all guns blazing against Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB), scoring fifty off 18 balls. The 24-year-old scored 65 off just 28 balls at a strike rate of 232.14, which included three sixes and 11 boundaries.

The England batter also hit 23 runs in the fifth over bowled by Preeti Bose. Dunkley’s exceptional performance helped the Giants post 64/1 at the end of the powerplay overs.

The right-hander was caught by Heather Knight at long-off in the eighth over off Shreyanka Patil.

Dunkley, with a base price of INR 30 lakh, was sold for Rs 60 lakh to GG after a bidding war with Delhi Capitals at the WPL 2023 auction. So far, she has played 44 T20s, scoring 652 runs (excluding today's knock).

Fans were delighted with Dunkley’s power-packed innings in a must-win game for the Gujarat Giants.

One fan wrote on Twitter:

"Sophia Dunkley celebrating women's day in style! 18 ball 50!"

Here are some of the other best Twitter reactions:

Dunkley, who missed the opening game for the Giants, was included in the playing XI in the absence of injured captain Beth Mooney.

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GG vs RCB playing XI in WPL 2023

GG (Playing XI): Sabbhineni Meghana, Sophia Dunkley, Harleen Deol, Annabel Sutherland, Sushma Verma (wk), Ashleigh Gardner, Dayalan Hemalatha, Sneh Rana (c), Kim Garth, Mansi Joshi and Tanuja Kanwar.

RCB (Playing XI): Smriti Mandhana (c), Sophie Devine, Ellyse Perry, Heather Knight, Richa Ghosh (wk), Poonam Khemnar, Kanika Ahuja, Shreyanka Patil, Megan Schutt, Renuka Thakur Singh and Preeti Bose.

Gujarat Giants and Royal Challengers Bangalore are chasing their first win of the WPL 2023 season. So far, GG have lost to MI and UP by 143 runs and three wickets respectively.

Meanwhile, RCB lost their first two games against DC and MI by 60 runs and nine wickets respectively.