Mumbai Indians (MI) defeated Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) by nine wickets in their Women’s Premier League (WPL) match at the Brabourne Stadium. MI notched up their second win in two matches, consolidating their position at the top of the points table with four points. RCB remain at the fourth position and are yet to earn a point.
All-round performances from Hayley Matthews and Nat Sciver Brunt steer MI to victory. Chasing 156, MI’s opening pair of Mathews and Yastika Bhatia dominated the RCB bowlers in the powerplay, hitting boundaries at will. Preeti Bose dismissed Bhatia for 23 to end their 45-run partnership. After six overs, MI were at 64/1, with Mathews (38*) and Brunt (3*) at the crease. Mathews continued his fine form in the WPL and brought up his half-century in 26 balls, while Sciver brought up his half-century in just 28 balls. MI ended their innings at 159/1 in 14.2 overs, with Mathews scoring 77* off 38 balls and Sciver scoring 55* off 29 balls.
Earlier, MI’s top bowling spell of Mathews, Sayka Ishaq and Amelia Kerr restricted RCB to 155 in 18.4 overs. RCB openers Smriti Mandhana and Sophie Devine got off to a solid start but Ishaq dismissed Devine (16) and Disha Kasat (0) in one over. Hayley Mathews dismissed Mandhana (23) and Heather Knight (0) for zero to put RCB on the back foot. Half of the RCB team were in the hut for 71 runs in 8.1 overs. Richa Ghosh of RCB scored 28 runs in 26 balls, but was dismissed by Mathews in the 14th over. RCB were bundled out for 155 in 18.4 overs, with Mathews being one of the pick of the bowlers for MI with 3/28.
In the end, MI produced a clinical performance with both bat and ball to defeat RCB by nine wickets in a WPL match. Mathews and Sciver were the heroes for MI, while RCB will have to work hard to get their first win in the tournament.