The ninth match of the second edition of the Women’s Premier League saw Royal Challengers Bangalore take on Mumbai Indians on Saturday. Having won the toss, Mumbai Indians came out victorious, winning the match by seven wickets. Royal Challengers Bangalore lost their second match on the bounce, giving flashbacks of their horrendous WPL 2023 campaign.
Ellyse Perry and Georgia Wareham save RCB from humiliation
There’s been an unfortunate but predictable trend in this edition of the Women’s Premier League. Whoever wins the toss, eventually ends up winning the match. That is exactly what happened in the match between RCB and MI. The tournament, having only been assigned three pitches, has become painstakingly predictable. The match tonight was being played on a pitch that was on the slower side, meaning whoever won the toss had a big advantage, as seen in previous matches. Having faced the wrath of Mumbai Indian bowlers, RCB at the very end were only left with two batters – Ellyse Perry and Georgia Wareham. A partnership that saved the franchise from humiliation. Perry walked back to the pavilion at the end of the innings with 44 not out (38), along with Georgia Wareham 27 (20), a partnership that proved to be a saviour. The two ended up contributing 52 runs on the scoreboard that ensured a total of 131.
Mumbai Indians bowlers leave no stones unturned
Having won the toss, Mumbai Indians already had an upperhand in the match. But what RCB did not calculate was the fact that the MI bowling line-up would leave them in shambles. With Issy Wong, Saika Ishaque, Pooja Vastrakar and Natalie Sciver-Brunt bowling in tandem, RCB’s batting line-up did not stand a chance. At the end of the innings, Sciver-Brunt had scalped two important wickets of Sabhineni Meghana and Georgia Wareham. Issy Wong made sure Smriti Mandhana walked back to the pavilion with just nine runs to her name, while Vastrakar sent back the dangerous Richa Ghosh and Sophie Molineux to the dugout. Earlier in the innings, youngster Ishaque too sent Sophie Devine packing. Leaving no chance for the RCB batters to score any significant runs.
Mumbai Indians’ top 4 shine
When Mumbai Indians’ batters walked onto the crease in the second innings of the match, they knew their job was half done having restricted the home team to 131 runs. But it was the likes of Yastika Bhatia, Hayley Matthews, Nat Sciver-Brunt and Amelia Kerr who made the win look like a cakewalk. Although MI’s wickets had fallen earlier than they would have liked, the odds were stacked against RCB and the ball was in MI’s court. The top-four of MI’s batting line-up took due advantage of the situation and scored quickfire runs. Especially Bhatia and Kerr, who were batting with a strike rate of 206.6 and 166.6 respectively. Bhatia scored 31 off 15 balls, while Matthews, Sciver-Brunt, and Kerr scored 26 (21), 27 (25) and 40 (24) respectively, leaving an indelible mark on the WPL stage.