Image Credit- BCCI
With glass crashing
and screaming RCB supporters echoing in her ears, Ellyse Perry’s face went from
a grimace to a grin. She must have been grinning because she had just smashed
the windscreen of a sponsor’s car with her fourth six of a fantastic innings
that helped her team defeat UP Warriorz and score a massive total.
With a magnificent 80 off 50 deliveries, Smriti Mandhana’s second half-century
in three games, had already roughed up the Warriorz bowlers. Perry then dealt
the final blow with a 37-ball 58, the two sharing a 95-run stand for the second
wicket to set Warriorz a lofty win mark of 199.
S In addition to
Mandhana’s disciplined scoring, Meghana went up to open ahead of Sophie Devine
and blasted to 28 off 21 balls with five fours. By the end of the powerplay,
Meghana had skyed Anjali Sarvani to extra cover, where Chamari Athapaththu was
waiting for a simple catch, and the RCB were up 57 for 1. Perry arrived as she
left, leaving Devine in the dugout and the RCB to stick with their hitting
order.
In order to reach 48, Mandhana advanced down the field and struck a 75-meter
six off a Rajeshwari Gayakwad delivery over extra cover. She then reached her
half-century in 34 balls by swiping Grace Harris through midwicket for a
single. Perry responded, hitting Harris for a maximum over wide long-on and
Mandhana picked off three boundaries in one Athapaththu over.
Mandhana and Perry
had caused significant damage by the time she and Perry holed out to deep
midwicket off Deepti Sharma in the 17th over, with RCB cruising at 146 for 2.
Gayakwad gave up 21 runs in the eighteenth over, mostly as a result of Perry
hitting back-to-back sixes and Richa Ghosh, who batted at number four, hitting
another maximum. With a charge at Deepti and a smash of the ball back over the
bowler’s head for four, Perry achieved her fifty from 34 balls. The highlight,
though, was her heave over wide long-on two balls later off Deepti, which left
Warriorz with a mountain to climb and the ball to be recovered from a mound of
glass on the back seat of the promotional car.
Unfazed, Healy hit
three straight fours off Wareham’s subsequent over. However, in the first
encounter between these teams in 2024, Asha Sobhana, who had taken five wickets
as RCB narrowly won by two runs, struck with her third delivery of the game to
dismiss Shweta Sehrawat for a cheap price. Healy reached her fifty runs in 34
balls after hitting four balls through midwicket off Asha. However, she was out
the next ball after Sophie Molineux reverse-swept her to the boundary, being
stumped by Ghosh.
Both Asha and Ekta
Bisht, who was making her 38-year-old WPL debut, tried for the catch, but Asha
held on despite becoming tangled up with her teammate and falling to the
ground. Ecclestone was quickly removed by Wareham, but Khemnar persisted,
finishing the over with a four and a six. However, the task proved too great
when 29 were needed to finish the last. Molineux concluded with two wickets
apiece, Asha, Wareham, and Devine. Molineux bowled Khemnar with the last
delivery of the match.