On Monday, March 4th, at M.Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bengaluru, Royal Challengers Bangalore Women (RCB-W) defeated UP Warriorz (UP-W) by a margin of 23 runs in Match 11 of the Women’s Premier League (WPL) 2024.
Put in to bat first, RCB amassed a mammoth 198/3 in the 20 overs permitted, thanks to a brilliant performance from captain Smriti Mandhana (80 off 50). UP lost the match as a result of their inability to score more than 175/8 in their 20 overs.
Alyssa Healy and Kiran Navgire, the openers, put on 47 runs for the first wicket off 26 balls, giving them a fantastic start to their pursuit. The opening stand came to an end when Sophie Devine dismissed Navgire (18 off 11), giving the RCB team their maiden wicket. Chamari Athapaththu (8 off 8) was dismissed, while Grace Harris (5 off 5) and Shweta Sehrawat (1 off 5) also went cheaply after that, leaving UP on 89/4 after 9.4 overs.
With the aid of seven fours and three sixes, skipper Healy, however, continued her incredible form and scored 55 off 38 to record her maiden half-century of the season. Deepti Sharma (33 off 22) and Poonam Khemnar (31 off 24) did their best to keep their team in the game after she was dismissed, scoring 41 runs off just 31 balls, but they were unable to maintain the necessary run rate and gave up under duress.
Earlier in the day, Sabbhineni Meghana (28 off 21) and Smriti Mandha (80 off 50) added 51 runs for the first wicket to give RCB a strong start. In addition, Ellyse Perry struck four fours and as many sixes during her outstanding half-century innings of 58 (37) runs. RCB’s score was 198/3 in their 20 overs, thanks to a rapid burst of 21 (10) from Richa Ghosh.
Following the match, the two captains and the Player of the Match said the following:
Smriti Mandhana of Royal Challengers Bangalore, the winning captain and player of the match, stated:
We were under the pump after the last two games and we knew we had to get going today. Losing the toss didn’t help but there was a clear message to show intent straightaway. Everyone batted really well including Meghna at the top and then the bowlers came out and did their job. Definitely got a little lucky on 26 but I’ll take that because we really wanted this win.
The practice was really good and playing domestic helped. It was good preparation, once you get the feel you just need to pick which area to target. Me and Perry were saying to each other that we’ve played together for 10 matches but this was the first 50-run stand. We are both experienced enough to recognize which bowler to target. There wasn’t much chat, it was just about executing. We never thought that we were out of the game, that’s how T20 cricket is. We were talking about how we would take wickets and come back. Different bowlers took pressure at different times and got the job done.
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