Bengaluru, Feb 20 (PTI) Having set the pace with back-to-back emphatic victories, defending champions Royal Challengers Bengaluru would be eyeing a hat-trick of success against a star-studded Mumbai Indians in a WPL match at home here on Friday.
Smriti Mandhana’s RCB hasn’t put a foot wrong so far, be it chasing an imposing 200-plus target against Gujarat Giants or overhauling a tricky 140-odd runs against Delhi Capitals.
Their overall strength has come to the fore in the two games they have played this season and are now leading the five-team chart with four points and a healthy net run rate. No other team so far has won all its matches.
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RCB would be guaranteed of an incredible reception when they play their first game this season at their iconic Chinnaswamy Stadium, and Mandhana, who had broken DC’s back with a blazing 47-ball 81 in the previous game, would be eyeing an encore.
The India vice-captain has been in red-hot form, bagging the ICC Women’s ODI Cricketer of the Year award for 2024 and also being named to the ICC Women’s T20I Team of the Year, and that streak of genius was evident in the way she disdainfully amassed her runs against DC.
If it was a one-player show against DC, the resilience of the middle-order came to the fore against GG, whose lineup is a virtual who’s who in international women’s cricket.
The likes of Ellyse Perry, Raghvi Bist, Richa Ghosh and young Kanika Ahuja rose to the occasion to make the task look easy, winning by six wickets with plenty of balls to spare.
Though RCB looked a bit thin on the bowling front, leaking far too many runs with teenage pacer VJ Joshitha conceding 43 in her four overs and Australian stalwart Georgia Wareham giving away 50 in her three overs, it was a much-improved bowling performance against DC.
But Mumbai Indians, the inaugural edition champions, would be tough customers with India captain Harmanpreet a hard taskmaster.
They did lose to DC despite Nat Sciver-Brunt’s peerless batting (80 off 59 balls) and her 73-run run partnership with Harmanpreet, but the class and calibre of the side is something RCB would be wary of.
To add to the batting firepower is one of the most destructive top-order batters Hayley Matthews, along with Amelia Kerr. But MI’s batting will still revolve around Sciver-Brunt, who has scored consecutive half-centuries, and Harmanpreet.
If the team wants to go the distance, the two will, however, need the help of others. On the bowling front, the side has performed admirably with Sciver-Brunt and Shabnim Ismail creating a lot of problems for the rivals with the pace they generate.
Teams (From):
Mumbai Indians: Harmanpreet Kaur (c), Yastika Bhatia (wk), Nadine de Klerk, Sanskriti Gupta, Saika Ishaque, Shabnim Ismail, Jintimani Kalita, G Kamalini, Amandeep Kaur, Amanjot Kaur, Sathyamoorthy Keerthana, Amelia Kerr, Akshita Maheshwari, Hayley Matthews, Sajeevan Sajana, Nat Sciver-Brunt, Parunika Sisodia, Chloe Tryon.
Royal Challengers Bengaluru: Smriti Mandhana (c), Kanika Ahuja, Ekta Bisht, Charlie Dean, Kim Garth, Richa Ghosh, Heather Graham, VJ Joshitha, Sabbhineni Meghana, Nuzhat Parween, Jagravi Pawar, Ellyse Perry, Raghvi Bist, Sneh Rana, Prema Rawat, Renuka Singh, Georgia Wareham, Danni Wyatt-Hodge.
