WPL 2024: Royal Challengers Bangalore fans will be dreaming of a title after their women’s team triumphed over Mumbai Indians by 5 runs in the Women’s Premier League 2024 (WPL 2024) eliminator on Friday. The audience at Arun Jaitley Stadium have been shouting for RCB star player Ellyse Perry since the match began, and the RCB cheers… RCB reverberates across the stadium when the final ball is bowled.
RCB won the toss and chose to bat first Smriti Mandhana and Sophie Devine walked out in the middle of the ground amid the high-rated Eliminator that was going to decide the second finalist of the WPL 2024.
The first over started in style contemplating the Eliminator as Mandhana was up on Shabnim Ismail’s first ball of the game for a boundary. And as Devine was next on the strike after a single, she too smashed two back-to-back boundaries and a single to conclude the over at 14.
Mandhana got her next four in the second over but the same over by Hayley Matthews scalped Devine much early in the crucial game at just 10 off 7 as she was clean bowled. And the next shocking wicket was the skipper herself in the third over which saw a rain of wickets falling one by one, might be scripting the course of the WPL 2024 Finals as Disha Kasat was dismissed by Ishaque at a mere duck that too off 7 balls in the fourth over.
Ellyse Perry and Richa Ghosh both had been in-form in this season and were fresh on the crease after so much of to-and-fro in the powerplay, but they managed to add a boundary each from their bats in the fifth and sixth over respectively.
Attacking From The Front 👊
— Women's Premier League (WPL) (@wplt20) March 15, 2024
The @RCBTweets and @EllysePerry are on the charge ⚡️ ⚡
Follow the match ▶️ https://t.co/QzNEzVGRhA#TATAWPL | #MIvRCB | #Eliminator pic.twitter.com/SyDFlN3XWO
ALSO READ: WPL 2024: Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) – SWOT Analysis
After a maiden seventh over, there was Perry moving up for a boundary followed by the first six of the Eliminator from the bat of Ghosh in the eighth over. And as the ninth over could only add a couple of singles, the pressure cost Ghosh’s wicket in the 10th over.
For the next two overs there were no boundaries coming in for RCB when Perry went a step ahead in the inning to put her first six into the scoreboard in the 13th over followed by a boundary in the next over. Sophie Molineux looked steady but silent and the pressure did scalp another wicket of Molineux in the 15th over only after she had hit her only boundary of the match.
The sixteenth over was something that RCB needed, the rotation of strikes and addition of singles and a double to keep the score moving. This was carried forward by Perry with two back-to-back boundaries in the 17th and 18th over.
#MI 2 down! @EllysePerry strikes for @RCBTweets 👍👍
— Women's Premier League (WPL) (@wplt20) March 15, 2024
Watch 🎥 🔽
Follow the match ▶️ https://t.co/QzNEzVGRhA#TATAWPL | #MIvRCB | #Eliminator pic.twitter.com/8JnMwmu4Td
Georgia Wareham too joined in hands with Perry to contribute a boundary in the 19th over followed by Perry’s last boundary in the final over of the inning which saw her dismissal on the following ball. And the inning finally came to an end with Patil’ double, a single and Wareham’s six on the last ball to set the scoreboard at 135 for the loss of 6.
The chase started with a boundary from the bat of Yastika Bhatia in the very first over followed by Matthews coming in for two-back-back boundaries in the third over and one more in the next over that cost her early wicket too as Shreyanka Patil scalped her out at just 15.
And the powerplay was set on a decent score of 37 with the help of Bhatia adding a boundary each in the fifth and the sixth over. Nat Sciver-Brunt was fresh on the crease to contribute a boundary in the seventh over.
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
ALSO READ: WPL 2024: Richa Ghosh’s Valiant Effort Overshadowed By Fat-Shaming Trolls; But Is It Justified?
Just as Brunt started opening her arms with another four in the eighth over, Bhatia gave way to her wicket in the eighth over at just 19 off 27 balls. The ninth and the tenth over could see a fine rotation of strike between Brunt and the skipper Harmanpreet Kaur but Brunt too finally saw her dismissal after hitting two consecutive boundaries in the 11th over as Wareham got the breakthrough for her team.
Things were in favour of Mumbai Indians as the score was well set by this time and was get going with Kaur’s another smash for a four in the 13th and one in the 14th over which was laid ahead with two more in the 16th over. And there was Kerr helping her skipper with two boundaries in the 17th over to set the score at 116 after seventeen overs.
But the tale had a lot to tell for the Eliminator as Kaur was next in the queue to depart for the pavilion on the 18th over followed by Sajeevan Sajana’s stumping on the 19th. And the last vital over could only see a few singles with a double before Pooja Vastrakar got stumped too on the fourth ball that was followed by two singles to finish 5 runs short at 130.
WPL 2024: Mumbai Indians vs Royal Challengers Bangalore Brief Scores
Royal Challengers Bangalore 135/6 (Ellyse Perry 66; Nat Sciver-Brunt 2-18, Hayley Mathews 2-18) beat Mumbai Indians 130/6 (Harmanpreet Kaur 33; Shreyanka Patil 2-16) by 6 runs.
Click Here to get the latest news related to Women’s Cricket. You can also check about Match predictions here. Like us on Facebook, and follow us on Twitter and Instagram for more updates.
