WPL 2024, Eliminator: Royal Challengers Bangalore Women vs Mumbai Indians Women, 20th Match - Who Said What?

Eliminator of the ongoing Women’s Premier League (WPL 2024) featured a clash between Royal Challengers Bangalore women and Mumbai Indians women at the Arun Jaitley Stadium in Delhi, on Friday, March 15. The clash began with Bangalore batting first after winning the toss. 

Bangalore, after a subpar start to the game, saw star all-rounder Ellyse Perry take over and put in a magnificent performance in the clash. Perry scored 66 runs in 50 deliveries as the side posted a total of 135 runs in the first innings. As for Mumbai Indians, Hayley Matthews, Nat Sciver-Brunt, and Saika Ishaque were the highest wicket-takers, with two wickets each to their names. 

Despite trying to chase down the target, Mumbai Indians failed to put in a good performance as well. Openers Yastika Bhatia and Matthews departed for 19 and 15 runs, respectively. Brunt added 23 runs on the board, with Harmanpreet Kaur scoring 33, as Bangalore limited the defending champions to a score of 130 and reached the summit clash of the WPL 2024, where they will face Delhi Capitals. 

Here’s what the two captains and the Player of the Match said after the game:

Losing Captain, Harmanpreet Kaur, Mumbai Indians, said:

We bowled really well to restrict them to under 140. Batting was also good but in the last 12 balls, we could not bat well. We just needed one boundary and we were not able to get it. That is what this game always teaches you. It puts you under pressure and you have to keep learning from it. When we lost my wicket, our batters could not hold their nerve, that was the turning point. She (Sajana) is someone who can hit the ball really hard, and that is what we want the WPL to do, to create more young players. (Message to the team and the fans) We fought really hard. This season was a little up and down. Last season we did really well. we learned a lot and hopefully next season, we can come back hard.

Winning Captain, Smriti Mandhana, Royal Challengers Bangalore, said:

It wasn't as close as the earlier game, less stressful. (On Shafali) When she plays like that, she makes it look very easy. So much fun to watch her dominate like that. I think we've had good patches in all games, we know our plans and our execution is getting better. We've been excellent right from the start, despite losing that first game. T20 is always a close game, it will be a great semi-final and we'll be watching eagerly. Either of those two sides (RCB and MI), it will be a great contest, there are some great match winners in both sides.

Player of the Match, Ellyse Perry, Royal Challengers Bangalore, said:

I have always thought of trying to play straight, today also that was the plan. Whenever the bowlers bowled well, I respected those deliveries. If anything was in my range, I would go for it. I backed my strengths and it worked today. Was in good touch today, wanted to stay till the end. Disappointed I couldn't end the innings today. I always try to do my best in fielding as well, stop as many runs as possible. That's been a crucial part of our management, to focus on our fielding and restrict teams to as few runs as possible.