Mandhana and Perry fifties help RCB end Bengaluru leg with a win
Only Healy posed a challenge in Warriorz's chase but spinners turned the match in RCB's favour
Only Healy posed a challenge in Warriorz's chase but spinners turned the match in RCB's favour
Scorer: Ranjith P | Commentator: Shashwat Kumar
11:10pm Right. That brings us to the end of our coverage for tonight, and that is also the last bit of action at the Chinnaswamy Stadium this WPL. Action was not at a premium throughout, and as the WPL bandwagon moves to Delhi, there is nothing to suggest that that will change in the upcoming days. We will be back tomorrow, with a repeat of last year's final. Until then, this is goodbye from all of us. Goodnight and take care!
Smriti Mandhana, the RCB captain is also the Player of the Match: After the last two matches, we were under the pump. We had to come out today and get going. Losing the toss did not help but that was the chat - that the intent has to be right from the start. Meghana was crucial at the top to get us going and then Richa at the end. The bowlers did well too. Healy was going nicely and we did well to pull it back. (On how she is feeling about her batting) Got a little lucky on 26 but I will take that, we just wanted to win. The practice was good, playing domestic really helped. Just grinding it out, and playing more on Indian wickets - it was good preparation. I was really confident, and once you get the feel, you just want to choose which areas you want to target. (Batting with Perry) First 50-plus partnership (for us), she made me run a lot of twos, which was great. The only chat was using the short side and we thought of seeing Ecclestone off. That chat was really important. A lot of times she said I will go, you wait and vice versa. We never thought we were out of the game. Chasing 198, we knew they were going to go hard. We had to keep doing things right, target the stumps and at different times, different bowlers took up the pressure and got us the breakthroughs.
Ellyse Perry: All games we have played here have been amazing. Best atmosphere I have played in front of in my career. It is just a cool feeling to have that support, we are very lucky. We have played a lot of cricket in the last two months and felt I had a pretty good handle on the game. Had a great chance tonight to get myself in with Smriti hitting as well as she was. It was really good fun. We are trying to pride ourselves on our fielding and trying to put in those extra yards. Tricky when there is a left-right combination but I think we had a good fielding effort. To hold on the way we did, with the ball and in the field, it is great for the girls. (On shattering the car window) I was a bit worried, not sure I have insurance to cover me. So, in a bit of strife there (laughs)
10:48pm Phew, what a game. 373 runs were scored, and in the end, RCB did just enough to hold on. They did very well to set it up during the powerplay and the first half of the middle overs, constantly picking wickets and pegging the Warriorz back. Asha, Devine, Molineux and Wareham picked up two wickets each, with Molineux bagging the all-important scalp of Healy.
There was a massive DRS controversy in between but either side of it, Healy kept things ticking. Unfortunately for the Warriorz, it all came down to their skipper, with none of the others really getting into the act. Deepti and Khemnar played cameos towards the end, although by then, the horse had bolted.
PN Khemnar b Molineux 31 (32m 24b 4x4 1x6) SR: 129.16
Molineux to bowl the last over. 29 needed off 6
The RCB captain batted with a freedom she has seldom shown in the WPL to take down UP Warriorz
Only Healy posed a challenge in Warriorz's chase but spinners turned the match in RCB's favour