“It was Harman’s wicket, I think that was the moment, you could see the lift it gave RCB” – Charlotte Edwards
The idea was to bowl our best bowlers and take the game to the last over.” RCB Assistant Coach Malolan Rangarajan speaks about the conversation they had ahead of the last five overs of the 2nd innings.
The Royal Challengers Bangalore made it to the eliminator courtesy of their comprehensive seven-wicket victory over Mumbai Indians in the last league game of the campaign. They were all set to face Mumbai Indians in the eliminator.
The Royal Challengers Bangalore skipper Smriti Mandhana won the toss and opted to bat first, the RCB openers Sophie Devine and Smriti Mandhana got off to a flying start, scoring 10 runs an over in the first couple of overs before they lost the wicket of Sophie Devine. Hayley Matthews provided the first breakthrough for Mumbai Indians. RCB kept losing wickets at regular intervals and as a result, ended up with a total of 135/6 in their quota of overs. Ellyse Perry stitched a few crucial partnerships alongside Richa Ghosh, Sophie Molineux, and Georgia Wareham to take them past the 120-run mark.
Ellyse Perry (66 off 50 balls), Georgia Wareham (18 off 10 balls), and wicket-keeper batter Richa Ghosh (14 off 19 balls) were the top performers with the bat for RCB. Hayley Matthews (4-0-18-2), Nat Sciver-Brunt (4-0-18-2), and Saika Ishaque (3-0-27-2) were the top performers with the ball for the Mumbai Indians.
Chasing a target of 136, Mumbai Indians openers got off to a decent start, before they lost the wicket of Hayley Matthews inside the powerplay. The Mumbai batters kept chipping along nicely at the target, keeping the required rate under control during the major part of the run chase. Mumbai Indians needed 43 off the last five overs. “We had a mini, coaches meeting before the head coach and everybody went in. The message was particularly clear, the idea was to bowl our best bowlers and take the game to the last over and see what comes out of it and we went with that.” RCB Assistant coach Malolan Rangarajan speaks about their conversation before the last five overs of the 2nd innings.
Skipper Harmanpreet Kaur and Amelia Kerr were looking all set to anchor the run chase over the line for Mumbai Indians with the equation reading 20 off the last three overs (18 balls), especially in the modern game, you would back the chasing side to get over the line. However, there was a twist in the tale as Mumbai Indians lost the wicket of their skipper Harmanpreet Kaur on the last ball of the 18th over, giving a sniff to RCB, for them to get back into the contest, and they did just that, the spinners restricted them to 130/6 in their quote of overs, falling five runs short of the target.
“it was Harman’s wicket, I think that was the moment, you could see the lift it gave RCB, but equally we would back Harman to take that shot on, you know if it goes for six, we need 12 off the last two and probably we’re in the driving seat. So I thought it had gone for six when she did it. So, but yeah, it’s small margins and I think we could pick and poke a lot of situations that happened in that game today, but ultimately we were in control and we let it slip.” The Mumbai Indians head coach Charlotte Edwards speaks about the turning point of the run chase in the eliminator against RCB.
Skipper Harmanpreet Kaur (33 off 30 balls), Amelia Kerr (27 off 25 balls), and Nat Sciver-Brunt (23 off 17 balls) were the top performers with the bat for Mumbai Indians. Shreyanka Patil (4-0-16-2), Sophie Molineux (4-0-16-1), and Ellyse Perry (4-0-29-1) were the top performers with the ball for RCB. Ellyse Perry was awarded the Player of the Match for her brilliant all-round performance, scoring (66 off 50 balls) with the bat and returning with match figures (4-0-29-1) with the ball playing a crucial role in helping RCB book a spot in their maiden WPL final. They will meet Delhi Capitals led by skipper Meg Lanning for a final showdown of the 2nd edition of the Women’s Premier League on 17th March 2024 at the Arun Jaitley Stadium in Delhi.
(Information sourced from Jio Cinema)
