Gujarat Giants 201 for 7 (Deol 67, Dunkley 65, Knight 2-17) beat Royal Challengers Bangalore 190 for 6 (Devine 66, Gardner 3-31) by 11 runs

But within the first week of the WPL, they find themselves at the bottom of the points table as the only team without a win. The expectations are becoming pressure.

On Wednesday, in a clash between two teams yet to register a win, it was Gujarat Giants who broke their duck at the Brabourne Stadium, beating Royal Challengers by 11 runs, a margin that doesn't really tell the full story.

In their first match of the season, Delhi Capitals carted them for 223 for 2 and in their second, Mumbai Indians chased down 156 with more than five overs to spare, both at the batters paradise that Brabourne has proved to be.

The third game was no different. Consider this: Megan Schutt, Australia's frontline pacer, started with a maiden and an opening spell of 2-1-13-1. Yet she bowled only three overs at an economy of 8.66. It's indicative of how nothing seems to be going Royal Challengers' way.

The star of the show was undoubtedly Dunkley, who scored the tournament's fastest fifty so far. The England batter was not the team's first-choice opener and came in to replace the injured captain Beth Mooney in the previous game. On Wednesday, she ensured she would be hard to drop even after Mooney's replacement, Laura Wolvaardt, flies in.

Runs kept flowing from Dunkley's bat on a ground with the fine leg boundary as short as 47 metres. She reached her fifty in the fifth over, with 22 of her runs coming off just one over from left-arm spinner Preeti Bose.

Royal Challengers started their chase fairly well but their innings soon took a familiar turn: a team of proven performers not clicking together.

In conditions fairly good for batting, Devine slammed 66 off 45 but didn't get much support from other batters.

The biggest blow perhaps was Mandhana failing to build on a promising start yet again, falling into the trap against an offspinner yet again: her third in three matches this WPL. Ashleigh Gardner has dismissed Mandhana more often than anyone else in international cricket and she got her once again.

Devine built a partnership with Perry and then Richa Ghosh, keeping the team alive. But frequent dot balls meant the required rate kept soaring. In the 17th over, a ball after smashing Annabel Sutherland for a six, Devine hit one straight to long-on, ending Royal Challengers' last remnants of hope.

Knight's 11-ball 30 and Patil's 11 off 4 at the death only reduced the margin of the defeat.

"Our batting unit ebbed and flowed and there was a time where we faced too many dot balls, 10 or 12 and dot balls are really crucial," Devine said after the match. "I think every team is realising that to bowl on these wickets… they are batters paradise to be fair. There is no seam, there is no swing, quick outfield. It's a real test as a bowling unit and I don't think any team has been able to crack it yet. This is an area we improved on but we can get a lot more disciplined in terms of execution."

Three matches in, Royal Challengers are entering a must-win zone now. In a five-team tournament, they need to be in the top three to make the knockouts. They have five matches left to do that, with a star-studded team that can easily 'win the cup this year' if they click together.