Despite missing two of their frontline players, Harmanpreet Kaur and Shabnim Ismail, the Mumbai Indians demonstrated the attributes that make them a powerful team in the Women’s Premier League 2024 (WPL 2024), winning by seven wickets over Royal Challengers Bangalore.
Mumbai Indians won the toss and chose to bowl first inviting Sophie Devine and Smriti Mandhana to kick the inning off with a silent first over, but the skipper Mandhana opened the face of her bat for the first time in the second over collecting a boundary but had to depart much early disappointingly in the third over.
Sabbhineni Meghana and Devine were trying to pull up the steers to hit one four each before Meghana left ways apart midway in the fifth over followed by Devine’s wicket in the sixth to conclude the powerplay at 34 for the loss of 3.
Richa Ghosh and Ellyse Perry were fresh on the ground, but Ghosh could only contribute a boundary before getting dismissed for just 7 in the ninth over. Perry and Sophie Molineux tried to lift the inning up with some grounded but powerful strokes in the tenth and eleventh over before the latter got succumbed to Pooja Vastrakar’s first delivery in the 13th over.
Yastika Bhatia departs for a quick-fire 31(15) but the @mipaltan openers started the powerplay with some special strokeplay!
— Women's Premier League (WPL) (@wplt20) March 2, 2024
Live 💻📱https://t.co/VqyJ4Y545d#TATAWPL | #RCBvMI pic.twitter.com/xf76PsSSO4
Perry, from the other end, kept the scoreboard moving and tried her best to release pressure timely with a couple of well-timed boundaries in the 14th over and another in the 15th over which was contemplated well by Georgia Wareham in the 16th and 17th over with a boundary each before finally getting entangled in the web of Nat Sciver-Brunt’s breakthrough in the 19th over.
The last over could only bring one last boundary from Shreyanka Patil followed by three singles to freeze the scoreboard at a bare 131 for the loss of 6 wickets. For the tight-packed batting order of Mumbai Indians, the total seemed much smaller that too in front of the blatant start by the duo of Hayley Matthews and Yastika Bhatia and Bhatia took that forward to hit the first maximum of the match in the second over followed by a boundary on the next delivery and her second six in the third over.
#TATAWPL Season 2 🤝 Spectacular fielding
— Women's Premier League (WPL) (@wplt20) March 2, 2024
Recap Shreyanka Patil's super save near the ropes 🔥🔥#RCBvMI | @RCBTweets pic.twitter.com/fmbcgkZBnu
Still, she had to walk back to the pavilion much early in the fourth over only after hitting two more boundaries. Nat Sciver-Brunt was new down on the crease and seemed all boosted up with one boundary each in the fifth and sixth over which was contemplated well by Matthews’ maximum in the next over before she got dismissed in the eighth over as Shreyanka Patil got the breakthrough.
But that barely affected the momentum the openers set as the new down Amelia Kerr stepped onto the crease in form hitting two boundaries each in the ninth, tenth and twelfth over.
The long run of Brunt finally ended in the 14th over as Wareham put a halt to the streak of runs after a boundary in the 13th over but by that time the game was all in the Indians’ favour as Vastrakar only needed a boundary along with Kerr moving up and beyond bringing the winning runs for her team with a final boundary.
WPL 2024: Royal Challengers Bangalore vs Mumbai Indians Match 9 Brief Scores:
RCB 131/6 (Perry 44*; Vastrakar 2-14, Sciver-Brunt 2-27) lost to MI 133/3 in 15.1 overs (Kerr 40*; Devine 1-16) by 7 wickets.
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