Ajit Karn
UPW vs RCB: Bangalore beat UP Warriorz
Royal Challengers Bangalore kept going after Virat Kohli gave them a pep talk. On Wednesday in Navi Mumbai, they beat UP Warriorz by five wickets to get their first win in the Women’s Premier League after five straight losses. After their bowlers, led by Ellyse Perry’s 3/16, bowled out UP Warriorz for a reasonable 135 in 19.3 overs, RCB easily beat the goal. Kanika Ahuja, who is only 20 years old, hit 46 runs off 30 balls with eight fours and one six to win the game. She scored 60 runs with India’s keeper Richa Ghosh, who played second fiddle to perfection (31 not out from 32 balls, 3 fours, 1 six).
Ahuja and Ghosh worked together at a time when the game could have gone either way. At that point, RCB had lost four wickets, had only 60 runs on the board, and faced a tough challenge.
But the two young batters played with a lot of confidence and control. They didn’t let UP Warriorz get any closer until they had won the game for their team.
RCB got off to a bad start. After some early aggression, the in-form Sophie Devine was out for 14 and the captain, Smriti Mandhana, was out for 0 runs. Deepti Sharma got rid of the RCB captain with the third ball she faced.
In the seventh over, Perry (10) was caught by Sophie Ecclestone and Deepti Sharma (24), who was dangerous, was caught by Kiran Navgire in the ninth over. At that point, there were 60 runs on the board.
Perry was great with the ball for RCB in the first half of the game, even though he came in late.
When Grace Harris (46) and Deepti (22) threatened to take the game away from RCB, the right-arm seamer stopped them. She also got rid of Shweta Sehrawat (6), giving her a total of 4-0-16-3.
Harris should have reached 50, but he was out for 46 after hitting five fours and two sixes in 32 balls.
At one point, UP Warriorz was in trouble with only 31 runs on the board. Harris and Deepti helped them get back on track with a quick 69-run stand that put them over the 100-run mark. Richa Ghosh gave Harris a second chance when he missed a normal stumping of Sobhana Asha when she was only on nine. Harris used this chance to his advantage.
Also read: What The Women’s Premier League Means For Women’s Cricket In India
Devine got RCB off to a good start by taking two wickets in the first over. She finished with 4-0-23-2, Sobhana Asha got a lot of turn during a mostly effective 4-0-27-2, and Megan Schutt finished off the bowling show for RCB with a weak 4-0-21-1.
Before the game started, Virat Kohli, who used to be captain of RCB, met with the team and talked to Mandhana, whose great run with the bat kept going.
The last time they played, on March 10 at the Brabourne Stadium, UP Warriorz beat RCB by a huge 10-wicket margin. Alyssa Healy scored an amazing 96 not out to help the winning team.
