UP Warriors recovered from a bad start to set RCB a target of 136 runs
Grace Harris (46) and Deepti Sharma (22) stitched a 69-run partnership for the sixth wicket as UP Warriors overcame a shaky start to hand Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) their first win in a Women’s Premier League T20 match here on Wednesday. Gave a target of 136 runs to do. The Warriors team was dismissed for 135 runs in 19.3 overs. The Warriors team was struggling after scoring 31 runs in the ninth over but Harris and Deepti came back in the match with aggressive batting.
Harris hit five fours and two sixes in his 32-ball innings while Deepti hit four fours in his 19-ball innings. Apart from these two, only Kiran Navagire (22) and Sophie Eccleston (12) reached double digits. Ellyse Perry took three wickets for 16 runs in four overs for RCB, while Sophie Devine and Sobhana Asha took two wickets each. Megan Schutt and Shreyanka Patil got one success each. RCB skipper Smriti Mandhana won the toss and decided to bowl. Devine got the team off to a flying start in the first over itself by removing Devika Vaidya (0) and skipper Alisha Healy (1).
In the next over, the shot dodged Tahlia McGrath (two runs) and wicketkeeper Richa Ghosh took a simple catch. After losing three wickets for five runs, Kiran Navagire tried to reduce the pressure with a four off Devine. In the last over of the power play, he hit a brilliant six over the cover off Renuka Singh, which made the team’s score 29 for three after the power play. Kiran then played aggressive shots against leg-spinner Sobhana Asha but the ball went into the air and went into the hands of Richa.
He scored 22 runs in 26 balls with the help of two fours and a six. Simran Sheikh (2), sent up the batting order to accelerate the run rate, became Asha’s second victim as half of the UP Warriors team returned to the pavilion for 31 runs in 8.1 overs. Deepti Sharma got life donation in this over and she took advantage of it by opening the account by hitting a four. In the 11th over, Richa missed a simple chance to stump Grace Harris off Asha’s bowling and from here UP Warriors started scoring runs at a brisk pace.
Harris hit consecutive sixes and fours against Shreyanka Patil and Asha in the next two overs. After consuming 31 runs in these two overs, Captain Mandhana once again handed the ball to Devine but Deepti expressed her intentions by hitting two consecutive fours in this over. Harris hit two fours against Renuka in the 15th over to complete the team’s hundred, but Ellyse Perry prevented UP Warriors from scoring a big score by taking the wickets of both Deepti and Harris in the next over. While trying to hit a six off her first ball, Deepti was caught by Shreyanka, while Harris was caught by Richa. Eccleston then took the team’s score to 135 runs with the lower order batsmen, she was run out in the last over after a mistake by Rajeshwari Gaikwad.
