At the DY Patil Stadium on Wednesday, Royal Challengers Bangalore defeated UP Warriorz with a comprehensive five-wicket victory to earn their first victory in the first Women’s Premier League season.
After bowling UPW out for 135 runs in 19.3 overs, RCB had 2 overs and 5 wickets left to complete the chase.
RCB chose to bowl first after winning the toss and did so successfully, taking two wickets in the opening over. Devika Vaidhya and Alyssa Healy were dispatched by Sophie Devine for a duck and a solo run, respectively.
The Bengaluru-based team capitalized on their strong start as Megan Schutt took Tahlia McGrath’s prized wicket in the second over, the Australian losing it for only two runs.
After a 22-run stand, Kiran Navigre was the next to fall to Shobana Asha, who then also dispatched Simran Shaikh.
Grace Harris and Deepti Sharma managed to score 46 and 22 runs, respectively, against the RCB bowling assault until Australian all-rounder Ellyse Perry sent them both back to the hut.
Before UPW was dismissed for 135 in 19.3 overs, Perry also bowled out Shwetha Sherawat.
Devine provided the UPW opening bowler with a pair of boundaries to get the RCB’s chase off to a good start, but she was out on the very last ball of the first over to Grace Harris.
Smriti Mandha, the captain of the RCB, maintained her dismal streak when being dismissed for a duck by fellow countrywoman Deepti Sharma. Up until the conclusion of the powerplay, Perry and Heather Knight remained in the game, raising the score to 43 when Perry was eliminated by Vaidhya.
Before Kanika Ahuja and Richa Ghosh put the Lucknow-based team out of the game, Deepti grabbed the wicket of Knight for 24 runs.
Before being removed by Sophie Ecclestone, Ahuja led RCB close to the finish line with a score of 46 from 30 balls.
Nevertheless, Ghosh’s patient unbroken innings of 31 off 32 deliveries assured that Bengaluru’s team would win with 18 overs and 5 wickets remaining as they finally collected their first points after 6 tries.
