“For them to show the faith in all of us was just amazing.” RCB skipper Smriti Mandhana speaks about how the management has backed them in their tough times.
In a must-win game for the Royal Challengers Bangalore skipper Smriti Mandhana won the toss and opted to field first. She became only the 2nd skipper to do so at the Arun Jaitley Stadium after the Mumbai Indians skipper Harmanpreet Kaur did it for the first time at the same venue against the home side Delhi Capitals, earlier this season.
After being inserted to bat first, Mumbai Indians’ opening batter Hayley Matthews stepped out with a new opening partner in Sajeevan Sajana courtesy of illness to the wicket-keeper batter Yastika Bhatia. Wicket-keeper batter Priyanka Bala made her WPL debut, replacing Yastika in the playing 11. The openers got them off to a good start in the powerplay, scoring just over seven runs an over before they lost the wicket of Hayley Matthews. Sophie Devine provided the first breakthrough for RCB.
At 65/2 in the 9th over of the innings, they were looking all set for a good total on the board, however, hardly did they know what was about to hit them, a collapse that probably no one saw it, coming. The Mumbai Indians’ batting lineup came crashing down as they lost their last eight wickets for just 48 runs, as they were eventually bundled out for just 113 runs and with one over to spare.
“Yeah that’s probably what I’m most disappointed about tonight, is there was a great opportunity for some of our lower-order players to show me and show us what they can do and they didn’t take those opportunities and that’d be something I’ll be discussing with them, because, you know, sometimes they’ve not been in those situations where they bat lower down the order and that’s a part of the learning process in this tournament for those domestic players. So some great learnings tonight for us, but yeah, ultimately disappointing that we didn’t quite get up to that total that could’ve put pressure on RCB.” Mumbai Indians head coach Charlotte Edwards speaks about the lack of contributions from the lower order.
A turbulence created by Ellyse Perry tilted the game heavily in favour of the Royal Challengers Bangalore. She registered the best match figures (4-0-15-6) in the history of the Women’s Premier League and was the standout performer with the ball for RCB. Chasing a target of 114, RCB got off to a steady start, before Hayley Matthews picked up the wicket of Sophie Molineux to provide the first breakthrough for Mumbai Indians.
They went on to lose a couple of wickets in quick succession and found themselves at 39/3 in the 7th over of their innings, making the run chase a bit more interesting. However, wicket-keeper batter Richa Ghosh joined Ellyse Perry at the crease and took their side over the line with a crucial 76-run 4th-wicket partnership to clinch the game by seven wickets and 30 balls to spare, booking a place into the playoffs.
They had a season to forget in the inaugural edition of the Women’s Premier League, finishing fourth on the points table with four points from eight games. They had a sensational turnaround in the 2nd edition of the tournament. They managed to make it to the playoff stages with 8 points from 8 games.
“Yeah, I think, definitely it’s been really exciting. I think of course the last year’s campaign was, not the way we would’ve planned or not that, I would say that it was a bad team. Definitely, we couldn’t step up and play, the cricket we wanted to play. But yeah, I think last one year, a lot of thoughts have gone into this, a lot of hard work, behind the scenes, not only from my side, but all the support backend and you know all the RCB management also for them to show the faith in all of us was just amazing. You know, the only conversion they had was that this is your team, make it the way you want to. So that was really nice from their side to do that.” Skipper Smriti Mandhana gives some insights on their journey behind an improved performance in the 2nd edition of the Women’s Premier League.
Ellyse Perry was awarded the Player of the Match for her exceptional all-round show, registering the best figures (4-0-15-6) in the history of the WPL. She also chipped in with vital (40 off 38 balls) contributions with the bat.
(Information sourced from Jio Cinema)