After having a horrendous campaign in the inaugural edition of the Women Premier League (WPL), Royal Challengers Bangalore women (RCB-W) have a made staggering comeback in the ongoing second edition. The Smriti Mandhana-led side qualified for the playoffs on Tuesday (12th March).
Royal Challengers Bangalore women (RCB-W) booked a berth in the playoffs after their win over Mumbai Indians at the Arun Jaitley Stadium in Delhi. The Smriti Mandhana-led RCB-W produced a magnificent effort with bat and ball in the must-win encounter and dominated the game.
RCB-W won the toss and opted to field first. Ellyse Perry stole the limelight with the ball for the team as he produced a match-winning effort with the ball. After going wicketless for 6 games, she made sure she made up for that in the must-win encounter for the team at the Arun Jaitley Stadium in Delhi.
Ellyse Perry picked 6 wickets and changed the course of the game. At the start, Mumbai Indians were in the game as Hayley Matthews (26) and S Sajana (30) added 43 runs for the opening partnership. But the opening wicket triggered the collapse as Mumbai came under a lot of pressure.
Ellyse Perry registered the best figures in the WPL and returned with figures of 6/15. Thanks to her valiant effort with the ball, Royal Challengers Bangalore bundled out Mumbai Indians for just 113 runs and wrapped up the innings in 19 overs.
During the chase, RCB-W were off to a shaky start. They lost three quick wickets and were left tottering at 39/3. It was then when Ellyse Perry yet again stood tall for her team and played a magnificent innings along with Rich Ghosh.
Ellyse Perry (40*) and Richa Ghosh (36*) added 76 runs together and powered RCB-W to the win in 15 overs. With the win, they became the third team in the Women’s Premier League to qualify for the playoffs alongside Delhi Capitals and Mumbai Indians.
Glad everyone stepped up in the crucial match – Smriti Mandhana on RCB-W’s win
Royal Challengers Bangalore skipper Smriti Mandhana opened up about the win and revealed how she lifted her team up after a 1-run loss in the last game. While highlighting the importance of the game against Mumbai Indians, she lauded the efforts of Ellyse Perry. Speaking to broadcasters, she stated:
“The last match losing by one run is not ideal, the whole conversation was that 1 run doesn’t make us a bad team. We had actually played some good cricket this season and just needed to keep our heads high. They did have a good start, but there was little calmness with the group today from the time we had our meeting and it was a brilliant spell (from Perry) to watch.
“Today’s match was very important for us to get going, we wanted to come out and play good cricket and for Perry to come back and take those 6 wickets, wow that was some sight to watch. We didn’t focus on other teams and other equations, we just wanted to win and glad everyone stepped up in the crucial match,” she concluded.
