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On Friday, March 15, Royal Challengers Bangalore defeated the defending champions Mumbai Indians by five runs in the Eliminator, to reach the final of the Women’s Premier League (WPL) 2024. At the Arun Jaitley Stadium in Delhi, it was an Ellyse Perry masterclass with both bat and ball, which helped the RCB make their first WPL final in history.
For the unversed, Smriti Mandhana, the captain of Royal Challengers Bangalore, won the toss and chose to bat first at the Arun Jaitley Stadium in Delhi. But, the RCB had a poor start with the bat with both their openers Smriti Mandhana and Sophie Devine losing their wickets within the first three overs for 10 runs each.
Ellyse Perry brought her best to the WPL 2024 Eliminator in front of a formidable Mumbai Indians bowling attack, stitching together small but key partnerships with Richa Ghosh, Sophie Molineux, and Georgia Wareham, one after another. After Saika Ishaque picked up the key wicket of the Australian all-rounder, she walked off to the pavilion with 66 off 50 to her name, helping the RCB post a total of 135/6 in their allotted overs, something to compete with.
In the pursuit of a 136-run target, Mumbai Indians had a comparatively slow start in the powerplay with both their openers Yastika Bhatia (19) and Hayley Matthews (15) scoring around a run-a-ball. Nat Sciver-Brunt provided some much-needed impetus to the MI innings, scoring four boundaries in her 23 off 17 before Georgia Wareham castled her to bring the RCB back into the contest.
With the scorecard reading 68/3 in the 11th over after the fall of Nat Sciver-Brunt’s wicket, the Mumbai Indians captain, Harmanpreet Kaur, put together a vital 52-run stand with Amelia Kerr. The partnership was broken at the end of the 18th over when Harmanpreet Kaur (33) managed to find Sophie Devine at the long-on region off the bowling of Shreyanka Patil.
Sophie Molineux had Sanjeevan Sanjana stumped in the 19th over of MI innings for 1 off 2, making it an edge of a seat thriller. In the last over, Asha Sobhana needed to defend 11 runs, which she did successfully to ensure that the RCB reached the final of the WPL 2024.
