Royal Challengers Bangalore beat Mumbai Indians (MI) by 5 runs in the Women’s Premier League (WPL) eliminator on Friday, 15 March at the Arun Jaitley Stadium in Delhi.
With this triumph, the Smriti Mandhana-led RCB have sealed a spot in the final where they will meet Meg Lannings’ Delhi Capitals at the same venue on Sunday, 17 March.
Electing to bat first, RCB posted a meagre total of 136 runs for MI to chase.
Chasing the target, Yastika and Hayley Matthews hit four boundaries between themselves, including the former getting a reprieve due to a dropped catch in the fourth over. The crowd erupted when Hayley slog-swept straight to deep mid-wicket off Shreyanka Patil.
Royal Challengers Bangalore batters Smriti Mandhana and Sophie Devine during the Women's Premier League (WPL) 2024 cricket match between Mumbai Indians and Royal Challengers Bangalore, at Arun Jaitley Stadium in New Delhi, Friday, March 15, 2024.
Image: PTI
RCB kept MI quiet for the rest of the Power-play, though Yastika struck two well-timed off-side boundaries and later found support from Nat Sciver-Brunt, who paddle-swept and pulled for a brace of fours. The crowd again erupted in unison when Ellyse Perry got one to come in and uproot Yastika’s leg stump. Harmanpreet Kaur could have been out for a diamond duck if not for a small part of her bat being after the line.
Sciver-Brunt pulled and slog-swept Georgia Wareham for two fours before the leg-spinner bounced back by castling the right-handed batter. Harmanpreet and Amelia Kerr had to be content with rotating the strike, with the skipper getting boundaries in between to keep MI in the hunt.
Mumbai Indians players celebrate the wicket of Royal Challengers Bangalore batter Richa Ghosh during the Women's Premier League (WPL) 2024 cricket match between Mumbai Indians and Royal Challengers Bangalore, at Arun Jaitley Stadium in New Delhi, Friday, March 15, 2024.
Image: PTI
Harmanpreet got more boundaries for MI by scooping over the keeper’s head and lofting in the gap between mid-wicket and mid-on for a brace of fours. Amelia joined the boundary-hitting act by swivelling and pulling in the mid-wicket area to take two fours off Georgia. Harmanpreet had a reprieve at the start of the 18th over when Richa Ghosh missed a stumping off Shreyanka, but the off-spinner had the last laugh by having the batter hole out to long-on to close the over.
With 16 runs needed off the last 12 balls, the pressure was on MI, under which it wilted. Sajana Sajeevan was stumped off Sophie Molineux, while Pooja Vastrakar got out in the same fashion against Asha Sobhana in the last over, as RCB gave away only 14 runs in the last three overs to enter the WPL final for the first time.
(At The Quint, we are answerable only to our audience. Play an active role in shaping our journalism by becoming a member. Because the truth is worth it.)