Ellyse Perry was outstanding with the bat and the ball as RCB defeated the Mumbai Indians seven wickets to one on Tuesday at the Arun Jaitley Stadium, securing their spot in the WPL 2024 playoffs. With five overs remaining, the all-round player helped the team cross the finish line by smashing MI’s batting line to take 6 for 15, the biggest wicket total in the tournament’s history. He then top-scored with an undefeated 40.
Mumbai Indians’ hopes of topping the table have also been seriously damaged by the decisive win; Gujarat Giants now need to defeat Delhi Capitals with an approximate margin of 120 runs/90 balls remaining.
steady beginning for MI
Yastika Bhatia’s disqualification from the match caused MI to change their starting lineup, starting S Sajana, a hard-hitter, with Hayley Matthews at the top. Despite their inability to score runs quickly, the pair was still able to put on 43 runs for the opening wicket until Matthews was out of the game with the final ball of the powerplay thanks to a superb low catch by Perry at deep square leg.
After finding it difficult to make big shots during the powerplay, Sajana attacked Devine in the eighth over. By the middle of the ninth over, MI was comfortably up at 65 for 1, but Perry then started to wreck havoc with the ball.
Perry’s demolition job
In the ninth over, Perry had Harmanpreet Kaur and Sajana back in the dugout with back-to-back deliveries. An oncoming ball knocked Sajana’s stumps over, but Harmanpreet pulled the ball back onto the stumps. Perry also made MI’s wounds worse before they had a chance to heal. In the following over, she trapped Amelia Kerr legbefore and Amanjot Kaur bowled with a delivery that was going in.
Perry’s subsequent over completely destroyed MI’s hitting power. MI dropped from 65 for 1 to 82 for 7 as Nat Sciver-Brunt was legbefore with an approaching ball and Pooja Vastrakar was clean bowled.
Priyanka Bala, making her debut, tried a couple huge strokes, but she battled and managed just 19 runs with little help from the other end. S Asha, Shreyanka Patil, and Sophie Molineux, the RCB’s spinners, each contributed a wicket to help MI get dismissed for 113.
MI present a warning sign
Sophie Molineux’s underwhelming campaign with the bat continued as Hayley Matthews had her stumped for a run-a-ball nine in the third over. MI could’ve had her dismissed in the previous over itself but Sciver-Brunt put down an easy catch at cover. Nonetheless, that wasn’t to hurt much. In the next over, Sciver-Brunt made up for the drop by having Smriti caught behind. By the end of the powerplay, RCB had cautiously moved to 39 for 2. However, right after that, Ismail had Sophie Devine bowled to put some stress in the chase. But that happened to be the last of MI’s challenges.
Ghosh and Perry lighten the pursuit
Perry and Richa Ghosh reduce the danger by chasing a modest aim. After starting the powerplay with a boundary and a six in the last over, Perry only capitalised after MI made mistakes in their assault. They went on the attack, focusing on two deliveries every over. The pair scored the final 76 runs in 8.5 overs with the assistance of a couple extras. Ghosh’s somewhat more aggressive 36* contained four boundaries and two sixes, compared to five boundaries and a six in Perry’s innings.
Brief Scores: Ellyse Perry 6–15, Hayley Matthews 26–30, and S Sajana 30 of the Mumbai Indians scored 113 in 19 overs, but they were defeated by 7 wickets by Royal Challengers Bangalore, who scored 115/3 in 15 overs (Ellyse Perry 40*, Richa Ghosh 36*).
