06 March,2023 10:35 PM IST | Mumbai | mid-day online correspondent
MI vs RCB (Pic Courtesy: wplt20)
Smriti Mandhana's languid grace will meet its match in Harmanpreet Kaur's brute power when Royal Challengers Bangalore take on Mumbai Indians in the fourth fixture of Women's Premier League 2023 on Monday. Mumbai Indians boast of a fantastic roster in terms of international recruits, including skipper Harmanpreet, who led the batting onslaught with quickfire 65 off 30 balls against a meek Gujarat.
With Nat-Sciver Brunt, Amelia Kerr, Pooja Vastrakar, Saika Ishaque, Hayley Matthews in their ranks, the team looks invincible. So much so that Mumbai appears to have a slighter edge over RCB in terms of pure international talent. Royal Challengers also possess a star-studded Playing XI, with the likes of Sophie Devine, Ellyse Perry, and Heather Knight putting their world-class abilities with both bat and ball to display. The side is coming off a shattering 60-run defeat against Delhi Capitals on Sunday and will look to bounce back when they take on Mumbai.
Also Read: WPL 2023: Top 5 players to look out for in MI vs RCB
Both teams are built differently as Bangalore are believed to have banked more on quality batters in their top order, while MI's focus areas are all-round abilities and adding a depth to their batting as possible. However, it will be interesting to see who between Kaur and Mandhana reigns supreme tonight. With plenty at stake in the series, the onus will be on the star players of both sides and their battles on offer.
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Mumbai Indians
Harmanpreet Kaur (c), Nat-Sciver Brunt, Amelia Kerr, Pooja Vastrakar, Yastika Bhatia, Heather Graham, Isabelle Wong, Amanjot Kaur, Dhara Gujjar, Saika Ishaque, Hayley Mathews, Chloe Tryon, Humairaa Kaazi, Priyanka Bala, Sonam Yadav, Jintimani Kalita, Neelam Bisht
Royal Challengers Bangalore
Smriti Mandhana (c), Sophie Devine, Disha Kasat, Ellyse Perry, Heather Knight, Richa Ghosh (wk), Asha Shobana, Megan Schutt, Renuka Singh Thakur, Preeti Bose and Kanuka Ahuja
The track at the Brabourne stadium is considered excellent for batting with shorter boundaries and quick outfield. Both teams will prefer chasing and the par score could be well around 180 at this venue.
Catch Mumbai Indians vs Royal Challengers Bangalore live cricket score and updates below:
10:29 PM: Mumbai Indians beat Royal Challengers Bangalore by 9 wickets
Phew, that was rather quick. Matthews and Brunt remained unstoppable, it was hard for Bangalore to pull through.
10:25 PM: MI 151/4 after 14 overs
Mumbai batters have once again hit back-to-back boundaries, quite a common occurrence in this innings. The bowler delivered a short ball angling towards the batter, who expertly guided it behind square on the leg side for two consecutive fours. Following that, Hayley Matthews chipped one towards mid-off, adding another four runs to the total.
10:15 PM: 102/1 after 10 overs
Hayley Matthews has been on fire since the beginning of the Powerplay, maintaining her momentum without any pause at ease. In the ninth over, she hits Renuka Thakur for 11 runs, including a boundary past fine leg and another one over backward point.
10:05 PM: MI 76/1 after 8 overs
Nat Sciver-Brunt joins forces with Matthews from the other end. 12 runs come off this over, 76/1 after eight and Mumbai are singing their way to 156 with much ease.
9:50 PM: MI 64/1 after 7 overs
The umpire's decision was accurate, as confirmed by Yastika's conversation with Matthews, during which they opted not to challenge the call. Yastika attempted to flick a full, straight delivery but missed, with the ball hitting in line with the stumps and destined to hit the middle. It was wise not to request a review, given the circumstances. Overall, a plumb decision by the umpire.
9:45 PM: MI 42/0 after 4 overs
As Renuka bowls her third delivery, Yastika strikes the ball for a four right away, cutting it behind square and avoiding the fielder diving at backward point. The following two balls only result in a single run. Matthews then enters the fray and flicks a ball towards her legside for another four. RCB have been conceding boundaries and struggling to contain MI's scoring. Looks like the run-chase won't last long.
9:30 PM: MI 6/0 after 1 over
Back for the run-chase and the pair of Hayley Matthews and Yastika Bhatia are at the crease. Matthews is on strike. Mandhana brings in Renuka Singh to open the attack. Starts with a dot but the second ball is edged by Matthews for a four.
9:12 PM: RCB 155 all out in 18.4 overs
Mumbai Indians need 156 runs to win against Royal Challengers Bangalore.
9:01 PM: RCB 146/8 after 17 overs
Richa Ghosh's dismissal is a disappointing turn of events for RCB. She had been the one who had settled in and was expected to anchor the innings, but she succumbed to the temptation of playing a big shot and got caught at deep mid-wicket. RCB seems to be losing their wickets carelessly, without showing any regard for the situation of the game. The bowler tossed the ball up nicely, and Richa went low to play a slog-sweep, but failed to get on top of the bounce. As a result, she ended up hitting a big top-edge that was comfortably caught by Sciver at deep mid-wicket.
8:51 PM: RCB 120/7 after 14 overs
Kanika's innings comes to a premature end due to an unnecessary shot. RCB will surely be disappointed with this dismissal, especially with so many overs still left to play. The bowler delivered a slower cutter, and Kanika attempted to play an ambitious swipe across the line. However, she closed the face of her bat too early, resulting in a leading edge that flew towards the off-side. Yastika called for the catch, ran towards short third and took it comfortably. Once again, RCB loses a wicket against the run of play.
8:45 PM: RCB 102/4 after 13.5 overs
Jintimani Kalita is introduced into the bowling attack and opts to bowl from around the wicket. She bowls wide of the off-stump to Kanika Ahuja, enticing the left-handed batswoman to play an expansive drive or slash. Kalita varies her pace, mixing in some slower deliveries and cross-seam deliveries. Ahuja manages to get a slight inside edge on one delivery and guides it down to the third man boundary, opening the face of her bat at the last moment. She ends the over with a well-executed pull shot over mid-wicket, resulting in a boundary. This takes RCB's score to 100 runs.
8:35 PM: RCB 103/5 after 13 overs
Issy Wong is brought back into the attack after being targeted by Mandhana in her previous over, which resulted in three boundaries. As she starts her second over, Wong begins with three consecutive dot balls. However, Ghosh uses her wrist well and guides the ball towards the short fine leg boundary.
8:27 PM: RCB 94/5 after 12 overs
Ellyse Perry's run-out can be a turnaround here. Although Perry-Richa pair had managed to survive a couple of close calls, luck was not on their side the third time. As Perry attempted to cut a fast arm-ball to backward point, Sciver-Brunt made a diving effort to parry the ball towards short third. Perry attempted to take a single, but Richa signaled her back. However, Humaira had already retrieved the ball and threw it directly at the stumps, catching Perry well short of the crease.
8:20 PM: RCB 71/4 after 8 overs
Richa Ghosh keeps her nerves of steel and delivers maximum over wide long off that sees Nat Sciver-Brunt giving a wry smile. Yastika Bhatia misses the pull shot behind the stumps and Richa thinks she has picked up a deflection. DRS sticks to not out. Richa finishes the over with another boundary.
8:10 PM: RCB 65/4 after 5 overs
Matthews is looking to complete her hat-trick as RCB finds themselves in complete disarray after Knight's golden duck. The ball is tossed up with a hint of turn, Knight attempts to defend with a forward prod, but the ball beats the inside edge and brushes the front pad before deflecting onto the off-stump.
8 PM: RCB 39/0 after 2 overs
RCB find themselves in a precarious situation, having squandered a promising start in just six balls, plummeting from 39/0 to 57/4 in no time. Harman's strategy to bring in Matthews paid off as Mandhana is once again dismissed by the off-spinner, while attempting to shimmy down the track and execute an inside-out shot.
7:35 PM: Both captains at the toss
Harmanpreet Kaur: Smriti is little luckier than me (with the toss). We wanted to bowl first and we got that. We have the confidence in our bowling unit and that's why we wanted to bowl today. We are going with the same XI.
Smriti Mandhana: We would like to bat first. It is looks like a good wicket to bat on and chasing builds pressure. We had a chat in the meeting that thinking about totals would not help, we have to play to our strengths and we will get the big total. One of the top four batters has to bat deep and if we can do that then we will post good totals. One change for us.
7:30 PM: RCB wins toss, elects to bat first
Royal Challengers Bangalore wins toss, opts to bat first against Mumbai Indians
