Hayley Matthews starred with the bat and ball to lead Mumbai Indians to a resounding 9-wicket win over Royal Challengers Bangalore in the fourth match of the Women’s Premier League at Mumbai’s Brabourne Stadium on Monday.
Matthews blasted 77 unbeaten runs just from 38 balls and was ably supported by Nat Sciver-Brunt.
Bhatia unfurled a slew of sweeps and cuts and then Matthews joined the party with a six and a four as they took the attack to Preeti Bose. The left-arm spinner though bounced back hard and broke the 45-run opening stand
Yastika Bhatia too started to middle the ball with authority when the keeper-batter was trapped in front of the wicket by Preeti Bose for 23 runs from 19 balls.
Matthews though grew from strength to strength as she punched one through point for a four and then drove the other straight down the ground, off Megan Schutt for consecutive fours to bring up MI’s 50 in the final over of the Powerplay.
Nat Sciver-Brunt found her groove early as she combined timing with placement to hit three fours off the Patil over to keep the momentum going. The duo kept hitting boundaries as Matthews brought up her fifty off 26 balls. MI reached 95/1 at the half-way stage. The RCB bowlers had no answer as Matthews and Nat Sciver-Brunt unleashed a slew of fours and sixes powered by timing and placement. The pair brought up the 100-run stand off just 48 balls to take the game away from RCB.
Nat Sciver-Brunt then brought up her fifty as she smacked one wide of mid off for a four off Perry and she finished things off in style heaving one through mid-wicket for another four off the next ball to win it for the Mumbai Indians with 34 balls to spare. She remained unbeaten on 55 off 29 balls while Matthews remained not out on 77 off 38 balls. The pair stitched an unbeaten 114-run stand off just 56 balls. MI hit 26 fours and two sixes in their innings to make a strong statement.
WPL 2023: MI vs RCB – Highlights
Earlier, Matthews picked three wickets with her off-spin to lead a superb bowling show for Mumbai Indians as they bowled out Royal Challengers Bangalore for 155.
Bangalore had a flying start as they reached 39/0. But Hayley and Saika Ishaque making double strikes meant they went to 43/4. It took decent cameos from Kanika Ahuja, Richa Ghosh, Shreyanka Patil and Megan Schutt to take Bangalore past 150.
For Mumbai, Hayley was the standout bowler with 3-28, while Saika and Amelia Kerr took two wickets each as the spinners took seven wickets combined. Bangalore captain Smriti Mandhana began by dancing down the pitch to punch Hayley through extra cover for a boundary. Her opening partner Sophie Devine ended the opening over with a slog-sweep going for a six.
Smriti was at her absolute best — pulling easily off Nat Sciver-Brunt, before nailing an exquisite drive off Issy Wong and getting an outside edge off her to pick three boundaries. From the other end, Sophie managed to take two boundaries off Saika though there was a nice little battle between the two.
Eventually, Saika had the last laugh as Sophie slog-swept straight to midwicket in the fifth over. Two balls later, she foxed Disha Kasat with a tossed-up slower-through-the-air delivery to hit the middle stump.
In the next over, Hayley deepened Bangalore’s troubles as Smriti danced down the pitch to loft through the line, but sliced to backward point. On the very next ball, Hayley got some turn in to go past Heather Knight and crash into the stumps.
Ellyse Perry slammed a loft down the ground over Amelia’s head while Richa whacked two fours and a six to inject some momentum into Bangalore’s innings. Though Richa survived a caught behind appeal off Nat Sciver-Brunt despite clear deflection, the indecisive running between the wickets meant the scare of a run-out loomed.
But they weren’t lucky the third time as Ellyse fell short of her crease via a direct hit from short third man in the ninth over. Kanika enthralled the crowd with a sweep and swipe off Amelia for four and six respectively.
She then welcomed Jintimani Kalita with two boundaries, before a leading edge on a cross-bat shot was caught by the keeper off Pooja Vastrakar in the 13th over. In the next over, Richa went for a slog-sweep off Hayley but holed out to deep mid-wicket.
Shreyanka was impressive with her fast hands and timing the ball well while picking three boundaries in her 15-ball 23. But Nat ended her stay by trapping her plumb lbw. Though Megan kept the boundaries going, Amelia had her stumped and castled Renuka Thakur to end Bangalore’s innings.
(With inputs from Agencies)
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