Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) beat Mumbai Indians (MI) by seven wickets in yesterday’s Women’s Premier League (WPL) 2024 match at the Arun Jaitley Stadium in Delhi. With the thumping victory, RCB also sealed their berth in the playoffs, officially knocking out both UP Warriorz (UPW) and Gujarat Giants (GT). Perry’s all round performance resulted in her being the player of the match.
Disciplined bowling by Bangalore
Bangalore won the toss and elected to bowl first, destroying Mumbai for 113 runs in 19 overs. In just four overs, Ellyse Perry amassed incredible stats of 6/15, the highest bowling figures in the WPL’s brief existence. Perry (40* off 38) contributed significantly to the chase as RCB easily won in 15 overs. MI was sent to bat, and they had a respectable start with to the powerplay contributions of openers Sajeevan Sajana (30 off 21) and Hayley Matthews (26 off 23). Matthews was hit by Sophie Devine’s short delivery, which went to deep square leg, on the final ball of the sixth over. Sajana fell next, pushed down by a force from Perry that gave way with a jagged back. When MI captain Harmanpreet Kaur(0) pulled her opening delivery back onto the stumps, Perry had two wickets in two. In the eleventh over, Perry took two wickets as well. Another ball that came back with a sharp jag trapped Amelia Kerr (2) leg before wicket. Despite the batsman being down the track, DRS’s ball tracking revealed three reds. Another jaffa from the RCB bowler knocked Amanjot Kaur (4) over. At 73/5 after 11 overs, MI was in serious trouble.
Perry took 6 fer which is record in WPL
Perry’s great night continued as she picked up two more wickets in the 13th over to finish with a six-fer. Pooja Vastrakar (6) tried to smash one over cow corner, but ended up losing her off stump. Nat Sciver-Brunt (10) was also trapped leg before with a length ball that came in and beat the senior Mumbai batter. Asha Sobhana, Shreyanka Patil and Sophie Molineux chipped in with one scalp each to claim the last three MI wickets.
RCB overpowers MI
While chasing 114, Molineux was stumped off Matthews and lost for 9 as she raced down the track. Sciver-Brunt was then nicked to the keeper by skipper Smriti Mandhana (11). Shabnim Ismail bowled Sophie Devine (4) with a length ball that curved back sharply, leaving Bangalore three down for 39.Perry and Richa Ghosh (36* off 28) then featured in an unbroken 76-run stand for the third wicket to lift RCB to victory and also confirm the team’s place in the playoffs. Perry struck five fours and a six, including the winning boundary, while Ghosh hit four fours and two maximums.