Royal Challengers Bangalore’s streak of five consecutive defeats in the 2023 Women's Premier League (WPL) met its conclusion on 15 March, as they secured a hard-fought five-wicket win over UP Warriorz here at the Dr DY Patil Sports Academy. Chasing a target of 136 runs, Bangalore crossed the finish line with a couple of overs to spare.
After being asked to bat first by Smriti Mandhana, UP Warriorz had the worst start that could have plausibly imagined. The decision to entrust Sophie Devine with the responsibility of bowling the first over worked out wonders for RCB, as the Kiwi all-rounder dismissed both openers, Devika Vaidya and Alyssa Healy.
Rubbing salt in the Warriorz’s untreated wounds, Megan Schutt also joined the party in the next over by getting the wicket of Tahlia McGrath. The situation demanded stability more than anything else, owing to which Kiran Navgire ditched her usual happy-go-lucky power-hitting approach for a more cautious one.
Alongside Grace Harris, Navgire added 24 runs for the fourth-wicket stand before losing her wicket to Asha Shobana, in what was only the first over of the leg-spinner. In her second over, Shobana added another scalp to her tally with Simran Shaikh not being able to put up much of a fight.
Grace Harris, however, was a welcome exception in an otherwise crumbling batting order. A 15-run over off Shreyanka Patil’s bowling, followed by a 16-run over off Shobana, helped UP tip the scales in their favour for the first time in the match.
It took them 15 overs to reach triple figures, but just when the tables had started to turn, Bangalore pulled things back with an exceptional over by Perry. Being recalled into the attack by Smriti, the Australian all-rounder dismissed Deepti Sharma in the first delivery, and then applied the icing on the cake with Harris’ dismissal.
Young Shweta Sehrawat could last all but six deliveries, while the last two wickets fell inside the next thirteen deliveries – restricting Healy’s team to a score of merely 135 runs.
RCB Unearth New Gem in Kanika Ahuja
The target should ideally have been chased down quite comfortably, but for a team with no wins under their belt, the collywobbles in the RCB camp were pretty evident. Things only turned worse when they too, like UP, lost their openers early.
After scoring 14 runs, Sophie Devine was dismissed in the first over, whilst Smriti Mandhana was unsuccessful in her redemption bid yet again, departing for a duck in the second over.
Bangalore’s game-changer with the ball, Perry then attempted to change the game with the bat as well, but could not add more than 10 runs to her team’s tally as she lost her wicket to Sophie Ecclestone.
Heather Knight looked in control of her 24-run innings until she wasn’t anymore, as in the ninth over, Deepti Sharma sent the English all-rounder packing. At 60/4, and with almost all of the renowned batters back in the dugout, it seemed that the girls in black and red were staring at the sixth consecutive defeat.
The difficult times, however, led to the emergence of an unlikely saviour – Kanika Ahuja. Having tackled the initial threats in a manner that effectively conceited her young age, Ahuja freed the shackles in the 12th over, smashing three boundaries off Rajeshwari Gayakwad’s bowling.
The runs kept on pouring, with wicketkeeper-batter Richa Ghosh holding the fort at the other end. Ahuja missed out on what would have been an incredible half-century by only four runs, but by the time she took the walk back to the pavilion, RCB were comfortably walking towards their first victory.
The next over saw Richa taking on from where the Patiala-born player had left, hitting a six and a four to secure the first points on the board for her team. Importantly, RCB are not the bottom-ranked team in the standings anymore, having leapfrogged Gujarat Giants with this victory.
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