WPL 2025: Mumbai Indians Women vs Royal Challengers Bengaluru Women, Match 20 - Who Said What?
RCB-W scored a consolation win by 11 runs to finish their campaign on a high note.
The 20th and the last league match of Women's Premier League 2025 witnessed Mumbai Indians Women (MI-W) clash with Royal Challengers Bengaluru Women (RCB-W) at the Brabourne Stadium in Mumbai on Tuesday, March 11. The home team won the toss and elected to field first.
RCB-W, who were already out of contention for the playoffs, came out all guns blazing in search of a consolation win. The opening pair of Sabbhineni Meghana and Smriti Mandhana gave a quick start with the latter scoring a half century. Though the batters to follow did not score more than 50 runs they all contributed with crucial knocks at a speedy rate. The blitz from Georgia Wareham (31* off 10) at the end ensured RCB-W reached 199/3 after 20 overs.
MI-W did not begin the chase as well as they would have liked. They were falling behind when Harmanpreet Kaur was dismissed at 78/3 after 10.1 overs. Nat Sciver-Brunt (69 off 35) was the best batter and kept MI-W's hopes alive as long as she was there but her dismissal affected the run flow to some extent. In the end, RCB-W earned their third victory by 11 runs.
Talking Points
1. All-round effort from Ellyse Perry
The Australian had another fantastic day out on the field. She excelled with the bat first up, scoring an important 49 off 38 balls, alongside forming two crucial partnerships of 53 and 46* with Richa Ghosh and Wareham respectively. When it came to her bowling she scalped two wickets but was very expensive, giving away 53 runs in her four overs. However, one of her two scalps included Sciver-Brunt's wicket which was caught and bowled at a critical point in the game.
2. Wareham goes ballistic
Georgia Wareham played a scintillating knock to give her team a major boost. Her whirlwind innings included spectacular shots as she scored five boundaries and a six in what was a game-changing partnership with Perry at that stage. The Victorian also bowled well, restricting the run flow to some extent. She ended up with figures of 1/29 in her four overs.
3. Sneh Rana puts the brakes on MI-W's chase
The off-spinner, who played a blinder in the last match in a losing cause, performed exceptionally with the ball tonight. Her 3/26 in four overs included disciplined bowling which not only stemmed the run flow but also presented RCB-W with the wickets of the dangerous Hayley Matthews, Amelia Kerr, and Yastika Bhatia.
Who Said What?
Harmanpreet Kaur, Mumbai Indians Women and losing skipper said
This ground is only about saving the boundaries. The last two overs we gave 40 and that cost us, apart from that we did well in the game. We saw in the last game 180 was chaseable. The way Sajana was batting we had hope she will win the game for us but good to see that other batters also contributed. Outfield is fast and we have to stop boundaries, but some really good plans while we were bowling. (on her wrist) I'm fine. I will be fine. (on Kerr opening) We still have one more day for the next game and we all will sit and think about that. (on the Eliminator) We need to stay calm and stay in the moment. Cricket is a game about winning small moments. We have a great record against them but they are playing well. (on Amanjot) She is someone who is working in three departments. Really happy with the way she is performing and she is a key player for us.
Smriti Mandhana, Royal Challengers Bengaluru Women and winning skipper said
We just discussed that we started on a high and finished on a high but lost a lot of momentum mid-way. Not having your five or six players who would play in the playing eleven, missing all the bowlers…the way we started, we felt that it will not be a huge thing for us. A lot of tosses did not go our way as well. In cricket, you can say all those things but you have to fight it out as a team and we could not step up - that is something all of us will learn. (On using just five bowlers tonight) Whenever I was thinking (to get the others on), Nat was smashing a 12-run over. They (Joshitha and Rawat) are excellent bowlers but I thought about sticking to experience - that is what gets us through. (On her innings) Just wanted to go out and play positive cricket (tonight). Being in touch and not scoring was eating away at me, so nice to contribute (tonight). (On the fans) They are the best fans for a reason. You play in Mumbai, Vadodara, Lucknow, wherever you play, whether you are winning or losing, they keep backing the players and the team. I remember one instance where we lost the fourth game (in Bengaluru) and we needed 25 off one ball, the whole stadium was going "RCB, RCB". Hopefully we can pick ourselves up and give something back next year.
Sneh Rana, Player of the Match said
(On her shoulder injury) It is fine now. (On the bowling plans) Pretty simple for the bowlers - you have to adjust your lengths. We had to take the pace off and adjust our lengths (on this pitch). I am an incoming bowler to the right-handers, so she used me well (bowling with the longer leg-side boundary). The captain has that responsibility to use the bowlers properly and she did that very well. Whenever I feel I can give some inputs to any department, I give it to the players. I was unsold (at the auction) but I want to say thanks to the RCB management for giving me this opportunity. Really thankful and looking forward to the next season.
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