Mumbai relinquish crown, RCB through to final
The Royal Challengers Bangalore Women secured a hard-fought five-run victory in the Women’s Premier League Eliminator over the defending champions Mumbai Indians Women at the Arun Jaitley Stadium in Delhi on Friday.
RCB’s victory sends them through to their first WPL final where they will face off against last year’s losing finalists, the Delhi Capitals, here on Sunday.
A wonderful 66 from Ellyse Perry helped RCB post a mediocre 135 for six after captain Smriti Mandhana had won the toss and elected to bat first. Perry’s 50-ball innings was the standout with Georgia Wareham’s unbeaten 18 from 10 balls the next best.
FINAL BERTH ✅@RCBTweets join the @DelhiCapitals for a shot at the ultimate prize 🏆#TATAWPL | #MIvRCB | #Eliminator pic.twitter.com/R0YL3bE9EP
— Women's Premier League (WPL) (@wplt20) March 15, 2024
Hayley Matthews (4-0-18-2), Nat Sciver-Brunt (4-0-18-2) and Saika Ishaque (3-0-27-2) put the skids under RCB, setting up what seemed to be a comfortable chase, with Mumbai having won nine of their previous 10 games chasing.
In reply, Mumbai were in a comfortable position at 120 for three, needing just 16 to win from the final 13 balls but Shreyanka Patil (4-0-16-2), Sophie Molineux (4-0-16-1) and Asha Sobhana (2-0-13-1) contrived to throttle the Mumbai batting line-up and secure a memorable victory.
𝗠𝗮𝗶𝗱𝗲𝗻 #𝗧𝗔𝗧𝗔𝗪𝗣𝗟 𝗙𝗶𝗻𝗮𝗹 𝗳𝗼𝗿 𝗥𝗖𝗕 👏@RCBTweets secure a 5-run win over #MI in an edge of the seat thriller in Delhi 📍🤝
— Women's Premier League (WPL) (@wplt20) March 15, 2024
They will now play @DelhiCapitals on 17th March! ⌛️
Scorecard ▶️https://t.co/QzNEzVGRhA#MIvRCB | #Eliminator pic.twitter.com/0t2hZeGXNj
RCB lost wickets regularly and found themselves in early trouble on 23 for three with Mandhana (10), Sophie Devine (10) and Disha Kasat (0) all back in the hut. But Perry kept the innings alive, striking eight boundaries and a six in her innings.
Richa Ghosh struck one four and a six but struggled to rotate the strike, finally being dismissed by Ishaque for just 14 from 19 balls. Molineux struggled as well, taking 17 balls for her 11 but Wareham’s late flourish, which included one four and a six, helped RCB set a total worth defending.
Yatsika Bhatia (19) and Hayley Matthews (15) added 27 for the opening stand before Patil struck. Both openers struck three boundaries before Perry (4-0-29-1) clean-bowled Bhatia. Sciver-Brunt (23) struck four boundaries in her 17-ball knock, but was then cleaned up by Wareham (4-0-37-1).
Harmanpreet Kaur (33) and Amelia Kerr (27 not out) looked in total control with a stand of 52 for the fourth wicket but then Patil struck, ending the 44-ball stand when Kaur was caught on the long-on fence by Devine.
Ghosh then pulled off two excellent stumpings, one off Mollineux to remove Sajeevan Sajana (1) and the other from the bowling of Sobhana to see the back of Pooja Vastrakar (4). Sobhana was asked to bowl the final over, needing to defend 12 and the legbreak bowler produced an excellent over as Mumbai finished on 130 for six.
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