In a thrilling conclusion, Royal Challengers Bangalore defeated the Mumbai Indians, the reigning champions, by 6 runs to advance to the WPL 2024 final.
Spin to win
In order to secure a nervous victory, RCB’s spinners maintained their composure and put together three boundary-less overs in the back end. On the opening ball of the eighteenth over, Richa Ghosh missed a chance to stump well-positioned Harmanpreet Kaur, which was almost bowled by Shreyanka Patil. She did, however, manage to keep things tight, which allowed Kaur to take another shot at the last ball and hole out too far. That turned out to be the pivotal moment, as Asha Sobhana and Sophie Molineux concluded the innings, preventing the batters from putting away boundaries and Ghosh snatching the other stumping opportunities.
A pursuit of see-saws
MI seemed to be in control and working towards a successful conclusion throughout the most of the chase. Amelia Kerr and Harmanpreet put on a 52-run partnership for the fourth wicket. The pair knew when to step on the gas and maintained MI’s lead until the start of the eighteenth over. Prior to them, MI’s top order made helpful contributions that helped set up the pursuit. But just like they had done with the bat, RCB was able to outlast them.
An early setback for RCB
On a pitch that was difficult to read, Royal Challengers Bangalore were rudely shocked early on after choosing to bat first. Smriti Mandhana began smoothly in the first few covers, but everything fell apart rather fast. Playing down the wrong line against Hayley Mathews was Sophie Devine’s first mistake. One thing led to another, and in the next over, an attacking Mandhana was out caught, leaving RCB in a perilous position at 20/2. During this time, the Mumbai Indians also managed to string together a number of dot balls, which paid off when Saika Ishaque was able to get rid of Disha Kasat. At 23/3, it appeared as though RCB was losing the game quickly.
Ellyse Perry’s programme
Prior to this elimination round, the legendary Australian player had already shown her overall class, and she was a major pain in the ass for the reigning winners. Perry needed some time to assess the attack and pitch tempo, but she quickly started to settle in. Her confident batting began with a whip across mid-wicket and a booming straight shot. As partners arrived and went at the other end, she was able to maintain the strike turning over with the occasional barrier. Although she holed out against Mathews, Richa Ghosh showed promise in her 19-ball stay. Before being castled by Sciver-Brunt, Sophie Molineux showed herself to be a more cautious partner during their 35-run stand. The RCB innings looked to be going nowhere as they were 84/5 going into the final five overs.
Perry does well.
Perry started to show off her goods just as Mumbai was starting to see itself as a less than desirable target. She began by bringing up her fifty in the same over and hammering Shabnim Ismail for back-to-back boundaries. Perry proved to be hard to contain in the next over, which Amelia Kerr bowled. There were two more boundaries, one through cover and one through midwicket. With her partners benefiting from Perry’s boundary-scoring, the last over of the innings produced a total of 13. In the end, Georgia Wareham’s six off the last ball of the innings proved to be crucial.
Brief Scores: Mumbai Indians 130/6 (Harmanpreet Kaur 33; Shreyanka Patil 2-16) lost to Royal Challengers Bangalore 135/6 (Ellyse Perry 66; Nat Sciver-Brunt 2-18, Hayley Mathews 2-18) by 6 runs.
