Around 11.15 PM, Richa Ghosh was on the side pitch, taking throwdowns from Sunetra Paranjpe, and flexing her range-hitting skills. Arundhati Reddy, with a helmet on, joined in soon. Ghosh got only two balls to face in the match, Reddy got none. All they were left doing was taking advantage of some extra time in their hands, courtesy an early finish to the RCB-UPW contest.

On most days when Grace Harris explodes, no total is too big.

On most days when a team musters 143/5 at the DY Patil Stadium, it's undefendable.

On every day that Grace Harris explodes chasing 144 for a win, it's a one-sided contest.

All three situations played out on Monday ensuring Ghosh and Reddy were left unfulfilled with their time in the middle, and yet got ample time for a short training session. It was a day when UP Warriorz's attempt to go all-out attack with their lengthy batting order backfired faster than they would have anticipated. Somehow, Deandra Dottin, batting at No 7, found herself unusually playing a frontfoot defense in the ninth over of the innings.

They all had to swallow the bitter pill.

Even if UPW had lost Harleen Deol in the powerplay, they had done well to fairly evade Lauren Bell's swinging deliveries. 26 for 1 in five overs, it was a slow but cautious start, offering enough time to charge at the bowlers on a pitch where the bounce and pace were predictable.

Smriti Mandhana threw the ball to Shreyanka Patil, tempting the batters to go after her in the last over of the powerplay. There was more to it. Shreyanka, who had dismissed Meg Lanning twice in three encounters previously, was a strong matchup to get rid of the second opener as well. The move seemed to pay off immediately as the UPW skipper pulled a near-half tracker from the offie straight towards Arundhati Reddy at square leg, and winced in frustration. It was understandable. Lanning had braced the testing spell of swing bowling by Bell, and it was her time to cash in, which seemed to have gone to waste.

Interestingly, unless she had caught a glimpse from the corner of her eye, she wasn't even looking towards Reddy after playing that shot, when the catch was attempted. But as she started walking back towards the dugout, she made her suspicion known to the on-field umpires, who opted to review the decision with their peer who had access to TV replays. Reddy had gobbled it, and there was only one frame available to prove that. Lanning got a life, but not for too long.

RCB's precision with bowling and field placements eventually caught up with the UPW batters as their attempts to force the pace began to hurt them. In the next over, when Shreyanka flighted one fuller, Lanning went down the track and holed out to RCB's best fielder in the park, Radha Yadav, who was stationed three-fourths of the way in the mid wicket region. For the third time in 14 balls, Shreyanka dismissed Lanning.

UPW's plans of being on the attack at all times backfired. Phoebe Litchfield pulled one to mid on, Kiran Navgire holed out to deep mid wicket and Shweta Sehrawat sliced one to backward point. Three wickets in three balls, and Warriorz slipped to 50 for 5 in the ninth over.

But this wasn't the first time in this tournament that wickets have fallen in a heap in the first half of the innings. Mumbai Indians had lost four wickets in a space of 37 balls against RCB (from overs 4.6 to 10.6). In the same match, RCB lost five wickets in a space of 24 balls (3.5 to 7.4). Against MI, DC also lost five wickets in 24 balls (3.1 to 6.6). So, UPW's slide - five wickets in 25 balls wasn't an anomaly. Only the previous night, Gujarat Giants had lost nine wickets in 57 deliveries. So, teams have won despite these collapses - batting first or chasing.

But to course-correct the situation, they were in a tricky position. The wickets had to be cushioned and the scoring rate needed a jump. In the middle to fix the concerns stood Deepti Sharma and Deandra Dottin - two batters with distinct styles of play.

Dottin doesn't like to hang around for too long holding back her big swings. Deepti is capable of that. Even as there was some reasonable batting caliber left in the tail to follow, there was enough motivation for Dottin and Deepti to hold back their attack. Firstly, despite the inclusion of Gautami Naik, RCB's batting line-up wore a thin look. Secondly, on the same pitch, they had nearly messed up a 155-run chase against Mumbai Indians three days back, before Nadine de Klerk's clutch performance bailed them out.

For a while, the duo went into a shell, but were mindful of seizing the scoring opportunities when they were presented. When Linsey Smith bowled one in Deepti's arc, she swiped her for a boundary. When de Klerk strayed down the leg, Dottin was comfortable in dishing out an aggressive pull.

As the partnership flourished, the bowlers started erring with their plans. None more than Shreyanka. A ball went straying outside the pitch, the seam-up bouncers came out often, and Dottin was up to the task as they looked to surge in the late overs.

For all their collective innovations, craftiness and power, RCB's fielders were well stationed to limit the boundary count, and despite a fighting stand of 93, they could only take UPW as far as 143.

The touch of Mandhana and the power of Harris were enough to ensure the contest was off by the powerplay. The fielders added to UPW's miseries, dropping a couple of chances - not that those would have made any difference to the eventual result.

Lanning, who has had a difficult start to her time in UPW - both as a batter and captain - conceded that "It wasn't our best night. we were outplayed tonight by RCB. They bowled really well up front, put us under pressure and never allowed us to get away."

Despite ending with two losses in two games so far this season, Lanning left the day with a sliver of hope, looking forward to UPW's next contest, set to be played in less than 24 hours against Delhi Capitals - another team which has been winless in two games. "The good thing is the games come thick and fast, so we can move on quickly," Lanning said after the loss on Monday. "Sometimes that can actually be a good thing. There are definitely areas we need to tidy up - particularly at the top of the order, myself included."

Abhishek Nayar, UPW's newly-appointed head coach, took responsibility for erring in his assessment and sending Harleen Deol to open the innings alongside Lanning, but credited the fightback led by Deepti and Dottin, "I liked the fact that there was a bit of a fight from Deepti and Dottin later on," Nayar said. "I wouldn't say it was a respectable score. But at least there was a bit of a fight."

There isn't much more to glean from the result, or the performances. Nayar, much like Lanning, wants to move on from this defeat, and is already looking forward to a 'sweeter' result on Tuesday.

"Our preparation was very good," Nayar admitted. "We won both our practice matches, which means we were doing well. We played a very good first game - getting 197 chasing 207. No excuses, we've got exactly what every other franchise has got, and the girls were in great shape coming in [to this match]. But sometimes life is like a box of chocolates: you never know what you're going to get. Today was a dark chocolate, 90% cocoa. So it was quite bitter. Hopefully, the next one is a little sweeter."