Ellyse Perry’s mayhem blows away the Mumbai Indians as she registers the best bowling figures in the history of the Women’s Premier League (WPL) to take RCB into the playoffs.
Royal Challengers Bangalore led by skipper Smriti Mandhana have pushed themselves into a must-win situation courtesy of their one-run defeat against Delhi Capitals. Mumbai Indians on the other hand, led by skipper Harmanpreet Kaur sealed a comprehensive seven-wicket victory over Gujarat Giants in their last game.
In a must-win game of WPL 2024, the Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) skipper Smriti Mandhana won the toss and opted to field first. She became only the 2nd captain to do so in the Delhi leg of the tournament after the Mumbai Indians skipper Harmanpreet Kaur did it in the first match at the Arun Jaitley Stadium against the home side Delhi Capitals in the ongoing 2nd edition of the WPL.
After being inserted to bat first, the Mumbai Indians openers got off to a good start, scoring over seven runs an over before Sophie Devine picked up the wicket of Hayley Matthews on the last ball of the powerplay to provide the first breakthrough for RCB. Nat Sciver-Brunt joined Sajeevan Sajana at the crease and the duo stitched a 22-run partnership for the 2nd wicket before Ellyse Perry cleaned up Sajeevan Sajana to provide the 2nd breakthrough for her side.
The Mumbai Indians suffered a horrendous collapse as they lost their last eight wickets for just 48 runs. Ellyse Perry triggered the collapse as she blew away the Mumbai Indians batting lineup with her immaculate consistency in line and length. She registered the best-ever bowling figures (4-0-15-6) in the history of the Women’s Premier League so far. She was the top performer with the ball alongside Sophie Molineux (4-0-26-1) for RCB.
Sajeevan Sajana (30 off 21 balls), Hayley Matthews (26 off 23 balls), and wicket-keeper batter Priyanka Bala (19 off 18 balls) were the top performers with the bat for Mumbai Indians. Chasing a sub-par total of 114, Royal Challengers Bangalore got off to a steady start, scoring over six runs an over before Hayley Matthews picked up the wicket of Sophie Molineux to provide the first breakthrough for Mumbai Indians.
Royal Challengers Bangalore lost a couple of wickets in the form of skipper Smriti Mandhana and Sophie Devine in quick succession and found themselves at 39/3 in the 7th over of the run chase. Wicket-keeper batter Richa Ghosh joined Ellyse Perry at the crease and the duo took their side over the line with a 76-run 4th-wicket partnership to seal their spot into the playoff stages of the tournament, becoming the third and the final team to progress to the next stage of the tournament, alongside Mumbai Indians, and Delhi Capitals.
Ellyse Perry (40 off 38 balls), and wicket-keeper batter Richa Ghosh (36 off 28 balls) were the top performers with the bat for RCB. Shabnim Ismail (4-0-19-1), Hayley Matthews (2-0-11-1), and Nat Sciver-Brunt (2-0-18-1) were the top performers with the ball for the Mumbai Indians. RCB sealed the run chase with seven wickets in hand and 30 balls (five overs) to spare.
Ellyse Perry was awarded the Player of the Match for her exceptional all-round blockbuster show, dismantling the Mumbai Indians batting lineup with a sensational spell (4-0-15-6) with the ball and playing a crucial role (40 off 38 balls) with the bat for RCB. She played a pivotal role with the ball in setting up the game for RCB to make it to the playoffs.
Delhi Capitals led by skipper Meg Lanning will face Gujarat Giants led by skipper Beth Mooney in the last league match of the season before the caravan moves on to the knockout stages of the season.
