Kanika Ahuja turned out to be the star performer as she led RCB’s fightback with her 46-run knock and also shared a crucial 60-run stand with Richa Ghosh for the sixth wicket in the pursuit of 136. After Kanika’s dismissal, Richa (31*) upped the ante to take RCB home with two overs to spare.
Scorecard | As it happened
After opting to bowl, Bangalore produced a superb bowling effort to bundle out UP Warriorz for 135 in 19.3 overs. Sophie Devine and Megan Schutt triggered the top order collapse before Asha Sobhana double-strike reduced UP to 31 for 5 in 8.1 overs.
But Grace Harris once again came to UP’s rescue with a magnificent knock of 46 and added 69 runs in quick time with Deepti Sharma, who played a second fiddle. Ellyse Perry hit back as she sent back the duo in a space of three balls and helped RCB restricted UP to a below par total.
Sophie Devine got RCB off to a flying start but once she fell, they lost the top four in no time. Kanika and Richa played brilliantly to forge a match-winning stand.
Youngsters Kanika Ahuja and Richa Ghosh to the rescue for @RCBTweets 🫡#RCB record their first WIN in #TATAWPL 🥳… https://t.co/L5CE0UTEXz
— Women’s Premier League (WPL) (@wplt20) 1678901378000
Smriti Mandhana (0) had to endure yet another flop show with the bat. The RCB captain was cleaned up by Deepti Sharma off the third ball she faced.
Devika Vaidya got the key breakthrough in the seventh over getting Perry (10) caught by Sophie Ecclestone and in the ninth, Deepti Sharma removed the dangerous Heather Knight (24), caught by Kiran Navgire, with 60 runs on the board.
In the first half of the game, Perry was magnificent with the ball for RCB despite being introduced late.
The right-arm seamer halted UP Warriorz’s charge when the pair of Grace Harris (46) and Deepti (22) threatened to take the game away from RCB, and also accounted for Shweta Sehrawat (6) to record figures of 4-0-16-3.
Harris missed a deserving half-century, falling for 46 off 32 balls with five fours and two sixes.
Harris and Deepti led the recovery for UP Warriorz – tottering at one stage at 31/5 – with a brisk 69-run stand that took them past the 100-run mark. Harris made most of a lifeline given by Richa Ghosh, who missed a regulation stumping off Sobhana Asha when the batter was only on nine.
Devine set the tone in RCB’s favour with two wickets in the first over to return with 4-0-23-2, Sobhana Asha got plenty of turn during a largely impactful 4-0-27-2 and Megan Schutt produced a measly spell of 4-0-21-1 to cap off a combined bowling show for RCB.
Earlier before the start of the contest, the former RCB captain Virat Kohli met the team and also had a talk with Mandhana, whose torrid run with the bat continued.
In their previous meeting at the Brabourne Stadium on March 10, UP Warriorz had crushed RCB by a massive 10-wickets in a one-sided game with Alyssa Healy scoring a stunning 96 not out in the winning cause.
(With PTI Inputs)
