The Women’s Premier League served up another thrilling contest on Saturday as the Royal Challengers Bangalore secured a two-run win over UP Warriorz at the M Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bengaluru in the Women’s Premier League.
UP Warriorz captain Alyssa Healy won the toss and chose to bowl first. After S Meghana and Richa Ghosh struck half-centuries to post a total of 157/6, Asha Sobhana was the star of the home side’s bowling, picking up figures of 5/22.
Australian all-rounder Grace Harris and Indian youngster Shweta Sehrawat had combined to put UP Warriorz in the driver’s seat, with a 77-run partnership for the fourth wicket.
But a crucial 17th over saw Asha take three wickets in five balls to turn things around for Bangalore.
Asha had already made an impact in the ninth over when she dismissed a struggling Vrinda Dinesh and a settled Tahlia McGrath within three balls to dent UP Warriorz’s chase.
But Harris and Sehrawat then began to strike the ball cleanly, including hitting four boundaries in Ellyse Perry’s second over, putting pressure on Mandhana to bring back the spinners.
Right after the final strategic timeout, Asha dismissed the set batters in Sehrawat and Harris along with Kiran Navgire. Georgia Wareham then continued that momentum by demolishing Poonam Khemnar’s stumps, leaving 11 runs in the final over for Sophie Molineux to defend.
Despite the presence of Deepti Sharma, Molineux managed to hold off the Indian all-rounder and the UP Warriorz finished with 155/7.
Earlier, Meghana and Ghosh combined to put up 71 runs for the fourth wicket that rescued the home team after their top order failed to fire. Healy’s decision to begin the innings with her lead spinner in Harris proved successful as the Australian piled on the pressure immediately.
New Zealand opener Sophie Devine was trapped lbw to Harris before Bangalore captain Mandhana top-edged a delivery off McGrath and into the hands of Vrinda for 13.
Perry then tried to go over the inner circle, but sent one straight down the throat of Renuka Singh Thakur to reduce Bangalore to 54/3 in eight overs.
UP Warriorz were solid in the field, cutting off the boundaries with speedy dives despite a couple of dropped catches.
But Meghana was fluent in a way that would have suggested the pitch was slower than the opening game on Friday, gaining confidence from surviving a stumping appeal.
Even when she had Mandhana, and then Perry, at the other end, the Andhra Pradesh native was striking the ball cleanly, hitting seven boundaries and the single six to her name.
Ghosh though took a little bit of time to get settled in, batting at a run-a-ball, but in the 14th over bowled by youngster Saima Thakor, Ghosh switched on and struck four boundaries to take Bangalore past the 100-run mark.
While Meghana reached her half-century with a calm single, Ghosh took the fight to McGrath and struck three boundaries off the Australian as well, reaching her half-century in 31 balls.
The momentum slowed down for the Bangalore side once Rajeshwari Gayakwad dismissed Meghana and Wareham in the over immediately after the strategic timeout. Ghosh then tried to go for the big hit and played on to her stumps off Sharma, leaving Shreyanka Patil to finish off the innings with a big six.