Mumbai Indians (MI) beat Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) by nine wickets in a Women’s Premier League (WPL) match at Brabourne Stadium. MI secured their second win in two matches, strengthening their position at the top of the points table with four points. RCB remains at the fourth position and has yet to earn a point.
Hayley Matthews and Nat Sciver Brunt’s all-round performance led MI to victory. Chasing 156 runs, MI’s opening pair of Matthews and Yastika Bhatia dominated the RCB bowlers in the powerplay, scoring boundaries at will. Preeti Bose dismissed Bhatia for 23 runs, ending their partnership of 45 runs. After six overs, MI was at 64/1, with Matthews (38*) and Brunt (3*) at the crease. Matthews continued her fine form in WPL and brought up her fifty in 26 balls, while Sciver raced to her fifty in just 28 balls. MI finished their innings at 159/1 in 14.2 overs, with Matthews scoring 77* off 38 balls, and Sciver scoring 55* off 29 balls.
Earlier, MI’s top-notch bowling spells from Matthews, Saika Ishaque, and Amelia Kerr restricted RCB to 155 runs in 18.4 overs. RCB’s openers, Smriti Mandhana and Sophie Devine, had a solid start, but Ishaque dismissed Devine (16) and Disha Kasat (0) in one over. Hayley Matthews dismissed Mandhana (23) and Heather Knight (0) for a duck, putting RCB on the backfoot. Half of the RCB side was in the hut for 71 runs in 8.1 overs. RCB’s Richa Ghosh scored 28 off 26 balls, but Matthews got her out in the 14th over. RCB was bundled out for 155 in 18.4 overs, with Matthews being the pick of the bowlers for MI with 3/28.
In conclusion, MI put on a clinical display with both bat and ball to beat RCB by nine wickets in the WPL match. Matthews and Sciver were the heroes for MI, while RCB will have to work hard to get their first win in the tournament.
