Mumbai, March 11 (IANS) Ellyse Perry, Kim Garth, and Sneh Rana came up with a fine bowling performance after skipper Smriti Mandhana and Ellyse Perry batted well as Royal Challengers Bengaluru ended their Women’s Premier League (WPL) 2025 campaign with a morale-boosting 11-run victory over Mumbai Indians at the Brabourne Stadium here on Tuesday.
Already out of contention and playing with a lot of freedom in their final league match, Royal Challengers Bengaluru came up with a performance they would have loved to have produced several times this season. With this win, they thwarted Mumbai Indians from topping the points table and then consigned them to the Eliminator match for the third time in the WPL. They will take on the Gujarat Giants on Thursday (March 13), with the winner of the match meeting Delhi Capitals in the final.
RCB’s victory on Tuesday means that Delhi Capitals finished on top of the table on NRR after finishing level with Mumbai Indians on 10 points. Gujarat Giants are third with eight, while RCB and UP Warriorz both ended with six points.
RCB ended the WPL as they started, with a win. Their top order batted well and then bowlers capitalised on the conditions and scoreboard pressure as they restricted Mumbai Indians to 188/9 in 20 overs after skipper Smriti Mandhana blasted a half-century and Ellyse Perry struck an unbeaten 49 to help RCB post a challenging 199/3.
Mumbai remained on course thanks to a sensational 35-ball 69 by Nat Sciver-Brunt and some final over heroics by Sajeevan Sajana, who struck sixes off successive balls to bring the equation to 12 from three balls. Ellyse Perry bowled a dot ball and then got Sajana to attempt another big one but holed out to Meghana for a brilliant 12-ball 23 as the Mumbai Indians ended 11 runs short.
The dismissals of Nat Sciver-Brunt, after a knock studded with nine fours and two sixes, and Harmanpreet Kaur (20 off 18) in quick succession hampered their progress, from which they could not recover. Sneh Rana applied the brakes on MI innings with a 3-26 haul, Perry completed a fine all-round performance with 2-53, and Kim Garth bagged 2-33 to help RCB breach MI at the Brabourne for the first time in six attempts.
Earlier, Mandhana struck 53, and crucial contributions from Ellyse Perry (49 not out), Richa Ghosh (36), and Georgia Wareham (31 not out) helped RCB to a challenging total.
Mandhana gave RCB a good start after they were asked to bat first, taking the score to 53/1 runs in the power-play. Smriti has struggled to get going this season despite being in top form before the WPL. She and Sabbhineni Meghana, who came out firing on all cylinders for her 26 off 13, raised 41 runs for the first wicket partnership.
Smriti was dropped on a couple of occasions but took control from the start before reaching her fifty off 35 balls, studded with six fours and three sixes. She got off the mark with a four off Shabnim Ismail off the second ball and then treated the same bowler for a four and a six in the third over, hit Amelia Kerr flat over deep mid-wicket on one-kee for a six, and followed it up with a four off the next ball. A couple of boundaries in a row off Parunika Sisodia in the 11th over to reach her fifty. She got out soon after, hitting Kerr to Ismail for 53.
Smriti added 59 runs for the second wicket with Perry to take the score to three figures. After the skipper was out, Perry took charge and maintained the scoring rate with support from Richa Ghosh, who played a crucial cameo, hitting 36 off 22 balls, hitting five fours and one six. They added 53 runs for the third wicket off 44 balls to take RCB past 150.
Perry and Georgia Wareham blasted 46 runs off the last 16 balls, with Perry remaining unbeaten on 49 off 38 balls, hitting five boundaries and one six. She played a crucial knock, keeping the innings together after Smriti got out. They provided the real impetus to the innings with Wareham blazing to an unbeaten 31 off 10 balls, hitting five fours and one six as they reached a challenging total, which proved enough in the end.
Brief scores:
Royal Challengers Bengaluru 199/3 in 20 overs (Smriti Mandhana 53, Ellyse Perry 49 not out, Richa Ghosh 36; Hayley Matthews 2-37) beat Mumbai Indians 188/9 in 20 overs (Nat Sciver-Brunt 69, Sajeevan Sajana 23; Sneh Rana 3-26, Ellyse Perry 2-53, Kim Garth 2-33) by 11 runs.
–IANS
bsk/