RCB vs MI: What happened in yesterday’s match at WPL 2024?
Mumbai Indians (MI) beat Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) by seven wickets in yesterday’s Women’s Premier League (WPL) 2024 match at M. Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bengaluru. Bowling first after winning the toss, MI did a great job restricting RCB to 131-6 before chasing the target in 15.1 overs.
Bangalore got off to a poor start, with captain Smriti Mandhana (9) slicing a length delivery outside off from Issy Wong towards extra cover. Sabbhineni Meghana (11) was the next to go, top-edging a short ball from Nat Sciver-Brunt - again leading in Harmanpreet Kaur’s absence - to short fine leg.
Sophie Devine (9) fell in the last over of the powerplay, trapped lbw by Saika Ishaque as she missed her slog sweep. Richa Ghosh (7) also perished cheaply, smashing Pooja Vastrakar to extra cover, where Sajeevan Sajana took a good catch on the rebound. Ghosh’s dismissal left RCB in trouble at 42-4.
Ellyse Perry (44* off 38) and Sophie Molineux (12) added 29 for the fifth wicket before the latter’s off stump was knocked out by one that skidded off the surface from Vastrakar.
Perry and Georgia Wareham (27 off 20) added 52 for the sixth wicket to push Bangalore past the 120-run mark. The stand ended when Wareham holed out to deep midwicket off Sciver-Brunt.
Kerr, Bhatia star in MI’s chase
Chasing 132, opener Yastika Bhatia got Mumbai Indians off to a flying start, slamming four fours and two sixes in her 15-ball 31. Her blazing cameo ended in the fourth over when she nicked a length ball outside off from Devine after slamming her for a couple of boundaries earlier in the over.
Hayley Matthews (26 off 21) looked in good touch before punching a shortish delivery from Shreyanka Patil to extra cover. Amelia Kerr (40* off 24) and Sciver-Brunt (27 off 25) added 49 for the third wicket to ease MI towards a thumping win.
Kerr struck two fours each off Simran Bahadur and Shreyanka in consecutive overs as Mumbai Indians reached 95-2 after 10 overs. Sciver-Brunt’s stay ended when she mistimed a reverse sweep off Wareham to backward point.
Kerr took Mumbai to the top of the WPL 2024 points table by caressing the first ball of the 16th over from Wareham through the off-side for four.
Who won Player of the Match in yesterday’s RCB vs MI WPL 2024 match?
MI captain Sciver-Brunt claimed two wickets and contributed 27 runs. Pacer Vastrakar impressed with 2-14. In the chase, Kerr and Bhatia played blazing knocks.
For RCB, Perry contributed a defiant 44*. Wareham scored a handy 27 and also claimed a wicket. Kerr, though, was named the Player of the Match for her aggressive knock that guided MI to an emphatic win.