On Monday, March 6, 2023, the Mumbai Indians (MI) easily overpowered the Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) in the fourth match of the Women’s Premier League (WPL). Smriti Mandhana (23) and Sophie Devine provided RCB with a good start, taking them to 39 in 4.1 overs; however, the Bangalore side eventually fell to 155 all out in 18.4 overs – suffering their second consecutive loss.
Saika Ishaque was the show’s star for the Mumbai Indians, taking two wickets in the fifth over to spark a spectacular collapse of the Royal Challengers’ batting order. Hayley Matthews, Saika Ishaque, and Amelia Kerr were clinical as they each picked up three, two, and two wickets. In reply, Hayley Matthews (77* off 38 balls) and Nat Sciver-Brunt (55* off 29 balls) complemented each other brilliantly, guiding the Mumbai Indians to an effortless 159/1 in just 14.2 overs. Hayley Matthews was awarded the player of the match award for her all-round performance.
The RCB bowling unit could have been more robust and hardly appeared intimidating during the second innings, while the fielding unit was sloppy, apart from Ellyse Perry, who showed great agility in saving some extra runs for her side. For her part, RCB captain Smriti Mandhana expressed her disappointment at their difficult start in the WPL when addressing the crowd after the game, stating: “We would have loved to put on a better score on this sort of wicket. We were below par and accept that, work on things, and come back harder. I think 2-3 batters got 20s-30s but we couldn’t make it count and couldn’t put up a big score for the team.”
“We’ll try and address that and take the game deeper. We have a good bowling side with enough options. We were below par, so nothing for the bowlers today. As batters, we have to put up better totals on the board.”
Social media fans were delighted by the game between RCB and MI. Here’s the link to some of the funniest memes that emerged from it:
