After five consecutive losses in the Women’s Premier League, Royal Challengers Bangalore persevered for another day on Wednesday in Navi Mumbai, notching their first five-wicket triumph over UP Warriorz thanks to Virat Kohli’s motivational speech. UP Warriorz were bowled out for a respectable 135 in 19.3 overs thanks to a team effort from their bowlers, led by Ellyse Perry, whose 3/16 made sure of it.
RCB then easily reached the goal with to 20-year-old Kanika Ahuja’s match-winning innings of 46 off 30 balls with eight fours and one six. She shared a 60-run partnership with India wicketkeeper Richa Ghosh, who played the role of the second fiddle expertly (31 not out from 32 balls, 3 fours, 1 six). As Ahuja and Ghosh teamed up, RCB had lost four wickets with 60 runs on the board and a difficult task ahead of them. At this point, the game might have gone either way.
Nonetheless, the two young hitters batted with great conviction and poise, denying UP Warriorz any chance to advance until they had ensured a victory for their team. The in-form Sophie Devine was dismissed for 14 after some early aggression, and RCB’s captain Smriti Mandhana was dismissed for zero following yet another disastrous batting performance. Off the third ball, Deepti Sharma faced, the RCB captain was out for good.
With 60 runs on the board, Deepti Sharma removed the threatening Heather Knight (24), caught by Kiran Navgire, in the ninth over, and Devika Vaidya made the crucial breakthrough in the seventh over by getting Perry (10) caught by Sophie Ecclestone.
Despite coming on late for RCB, Perry was outstanding with the ball in the first half of the game. When Grace Harris (46) and Deepti (22) threatened to steal the game away from RCB, the right-arm seamer stopped the UP Warriorz’s charge and eliminated Shweta Sehrawat (6) to finish with numbers of 4-0-16-3.
Harris, who scored 46 off 32 balls with five fours and two sixes, fell short of a well-deserved half-century. With UP Warriorz teetering at one point at 31/5, Harris and Deepti spearheaded the team’s comeback with a quick 69-run stand that sent them above the 100-run threshold. Richa Ghosh’s missed opportunity to stump Sobhana Asha while the batter was only on nine gave Harris a chance to capitalize.
Devine began things for RCB favorably by taking two wickets in the first over to finish with 4-0-23-2. Sobhana Asha gained lots of turns during a mainly impactful 4-0-27-2, while Megan Schutt produced a pitiful performance of 4-0-21-1 to complete a combined bowling display for RCB.
Before the game began, Virat Kohli, the former captain of the RCB, met with the players and spoke with Mandhana, whose disastrous 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.
