The Royal Challengers Bangalore gave the capacity crowd at the M. Chinnaswamy Stadium a farewell to savour after beating the UP Warriorz by 23 runs on Monday.
Chasing a mammoth 199 runs for a win, Warriorz got off to a racy start as skipper Alyssa Healy and Kiran Navgire put on 47 runs inside the first five overs before the latter fell trying to up the ante further for 18.
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Healy and Chamari Athapaththu kept the scoreboard ticking before the latter fell to a debatable lbw decision to Georgia Wareham for a run-a-ball 8. RCB were in well-and-truly in the ascendency when they removed Grace Harris for 5, caught superbly by Richa Ghosh and Shweta Sehrawat for 1 in the space of 11 balls which left the Warriorz needing 109 runs in the last 10 overs.
Healy and Deepti Sharma tried to resurrect the innings and put on 24 runs in 18 balls, but Sophie Molineux removed the key wicket of Healy for 55 to put RCB on top. Sharma and the rest of the lower-order tried their best to keep Warriorz in the match with some lusty blows, but the target proved a bit too much in the end.
Earlier, a captain’s knock by Smriti Mandhana (80 runs from 50 balls) and a brilliant innings by Ellyse Perry (58 runs off 35 balls) powered RCB to the highest score of this- WPL edition, as they reached 198 for 3 in 20 overs.
The hosts got off to a solid start as the new opening pair of Mandhana and Sabbhineni Meghana carted the Warriorz bowlers to all parts of the Chinnaswamy Stadium helping RCB reach 51 runs inside the Powerplay.
The latter fell in the sixth over, caught by Athapaththu off Anjali Sarvani’s bowling, but had done her job of ensuring RCB reached 57 for 1 after the Powerplay.
The dismissal of Meghana, however, did not deter Mandhana’s batting as the southpaw, joined by Perry, continued to take the innings forward. The former received a life on 28 when Athapaththu dropped her off Sophie Ecclestone’s bowling and the pair took RCB to 84 for 1 after 10 overs.
Mandhana and Perry continued to build a robust foundation for RCB to get to a tall score with the former being the more aggressive of the two. Mandhana brought up her second fifty of the tournament in the 13th over as RCB looked on course to set a competitive target for the Warriorz.
At the 15-over mark, Mandhana and Perry had taken RCB to 129 for 1 and the women in red and gold were set perfectly for the final launch which was provided by Mandhana, who played some regal shots. But in an attempt to push the scoring rate further, the southpaw fell for a fantastic 80 runs off 50 balls after adding 95 runs for the second wicket with Perry.
The onus was now on Perry and Richa Ghosh to provide the final flourish and duo added 42 runs in 18 balls before the former fell for a terrific 58 runs off 35 balls to become Ecclestone’s first wicket of the innings.
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