The commentary is not available for this match. Please check the scorecard for latest updates.
Phew! This was some game, wasn't it friends! Now, it's time for the Final! The WPL Final for 2024! It will be the Royal Challengers Bangalore Women taking on the home team, the Delhi Capitals Women. Who will come out on top? All we know, is that you have to join us for it! Because we will give you every bit of the coverage you need for the mega-clash. Sunday evening is the time and hopefully, one of the best games in women's T20 cricket is getting lined up your way! For now, this is the pair of Soorya and Bidipto taking your leave. Keep following Sportskeeda!
The fans of the Royal Challengers Bangalore franchise can once again start to believe! Their women have made it through to the WPL Final now! It was, in no way, an easy game for them. They could have batter better, they could have bowled better, they could even have fielder better. But, they did the right things at the right time and that is all that matters in a crunch game! Against a high-quality team, they got the job done! So, congratulations to them for this superb effort!
Ellyse Perry has been adjudged the Player of the Match! Here is what she has to say.
Ellyse Perry: (On the second innings) There were some awesome performances from out spinners, they were absolutely brilliant! We stayed calm against such a good batting line-up, and that worked. (On what changed for the team this time round) We have come a long way from last year, surely. We have gelled really well with one another and made this unit a really well-knit one. (On the batting effort) The old adage of runs on the board in a big game did come true here. (On her own important contributions) I am happy to contribute on a more regular basis with both bat and ball! Hope to do the same in the final now!
Smriti Mandhana (Royal Challengers Bangalore Women captain): (First thoughts) Of course, what a match! The feeling hasn't sunk in! We thought we were 20 runs short, but, 130-odd is a total that can get trickier than one thinks and the way we bowled, specially that final over from Asha, was brilliant! (On her bowlers) Sophie Molineux's 19th over and Shreyanka's overall bowling made a lot of things possible for us. (On Ellyse Perry) Ellyse Perry is a legend, I don't need to say much about here, her performances speak for themselves! (On the final coming up) Winning the toss was great, but after 20/3, we were not all that sure to be honest. But now, one more day of good training is all that's left!
It is time for the post-match presentation!
Georgia Wareham (Royal Challengers Bangalore): (How did she do that?) I'm actually not really sure. We fought really hard until the end. Every time it got close we came together and said let's keep fighting hard and take it to the end. I wasn't sure what was going to happen. It worked for us at the end of the day. (Chat at the halfway mark) Smriti was one of the leaders and Pez as well. Just shared their experience and we tried not to get too hard into the moment. It was just about keeping a level head for us. (On her last ball six) Sometimes they work out, sometimes they don't. Luckily for me it did. Not sure about that (if she'd call herself an all-rounder). Just happy to take my chance with the bat whenever I get an opportunity. She's so experienced - she dug us out of a hole with the bat and the other day with the ball. Lucky for us she's playing for RCB. It's so loud but it's really great to hear the RCB chants cheering for us, yelling out Perry and Smriti's names.
Harmanpreet Kaur (Mumbai Indians captain): I think we bowled really well to restrict them below 140. Batting was also good but unfortunately in the last 12 balls we didn't bat well. In twelve balls we just needed one boundary and we could not get that. That's what this game teaches you - how to deal with pressure and you learn from that. I think when we lost my wicket, our batters could not close it out. I think that was the turning point. (On the lesser experienced players stepping up this season) We saw SS (Sajana) doing well this tournament. She can hit the ball really hard. Good to see the players coming through and doing well. We fought really hard. This season was a little up and down for us. Last season we did really well. We've learnt a lot from this season and hopefully we prepare really well and come back hard.
Royal Challengers Bangalore Women win by 5 runs and progress to the Women's Premier League, 2024, Final!
Yes, you've read it right friends! RCB Women are in the Final! After such a roller-coaster of a season, they have toppled the defending champions and moved through to the summit clash!
They are pumped, they are elated, they are relieved and they cannot believe it! Why not? Why not? This was a superb effort tonight, first to come back with bat in hand and then, to put the squeeze on the MI batting right towards the end!
First up, Shreyanka Patil! She bowled four overs with a lot of wile and guile and lowered her pace significantly! She gave away only 16 runs in her four overs and managed to pick up 2 key wickets, including the one of the opposition skipper Harmanpreet Kaur!
Ellyse Perry did give away 29 runs with the ball but picked up the key wicket of Yastika Bhatia at an important time to get the RCB back in the game when MI were off to a decent enough start after putting 50 runs on the board for the loss of only 1 wickets.
Sophie Molineux took 1 wicket and gave away 16 runs. One of the most quiet spells that slipped under the radar but a highly significant one under pressure! Her lengths were spot on to the different batters who batted against her.
The fielding on the whole stepped when it mattered the most but on certain occasions, were questionable! There were misfields, there were drop catches and there were some frustrating moments. But, as we said, the work was top-class when it mattered the most!
And of course, Sobhana Asha! She bowled the last over of the innings, which was only her second of the innings. All eyes were on her. RCB had Renuka Thakur and Sophie Devine to go to but it was her who they chose. And, she bowled an over of high-quality leg-spin to defend the runs against the likes of Amelia Kerr, Pooja Vastrakar and Amanjot Kaur! Simply, magnificent!
MI definitely had their moments. They were supposed to get over the line after some fine batting efforts, but, when the pressure told, they made one mistake after another and let the game slip.
Royal Challengers Bangalore Women are in the Final of the WPL! The defending champions have been knocked out! And the experienced Sobhana Asha delivered when it mattered the most!