Ellyse Perry starred as the Royal Challengers Bangalore defeated the Mumbai Indians by seven wickets at the Arun Jaitley Stadium in Delhi, cruising into the Tata Women’s Premier League playoffs. It was the final pool encounter for both sides, with Mumbai having already guaranteed their place in the knockouts and second place on the log, while RCB needed to win to ensure that bottom-placed Gujarat Giants could not overtake them in their final game, which they promptly achieved.
Perry was a highly deserved player-of-the-match after her brilliant 6/15 in four overs limited Mumbai to a below par 113 all out batting first, before she spearheaded the chase with a strong unbeaten 40 off 38 balls. (5×4, 1×6) to make sure her team powered home in just 15 overs. The RCB chase got off to a rocky start when they gave Mumbai hope of defending the low target by taking three early wickets.
Sophie Molineux (9) was stumped by keeper Priyanka Bala off the bowling of Hayley Matthews in the fourth over; fellow opener Smriti Mandhana (11) followed in the next, caught by Bala off the bowling of Nat Sciver-Brunt; and Sophie Devine (4) was bowled by Shabnim Ismail, leaving them on 39/3 at the start of the seventh over.
However, Richa Ghosh, 36 not out off 28 (4×4, 2×6), joined Perry, and they calmed the ship before kicking on with a stunning unbeaten 76-run fourth wicket partnership off 56 balls to carry them home.
What could have been a game-changing moment occurred in the ninth over, when Ghosh on two flicked Ismail straight to Sciver-Brunt at midwicket, only for her to drop an absolute sitter that proved extremely expensive in the long run.