🏏WPL 2024: Eliminator-Mumbai IndiansW VS Royal ChallengersW, Delhi🏏

Eliminator: MIW vs RCBW

🏏WPL 2024: Eliminator-Mumbai Indians W VS Royal Challengers W, Delhi🏏

After a sensational start in the Women’s Premier League 2024, Mumbai Indians (MI-W) struggled for consistency and finished second on the points table. 

Royal Challengers Bangalore (BAN-W), on the other hand, failed to qualify for the playoffs in 2023 and were on the verge of elimination this year too, but the Smriti Mandhana-led side found their momentum at the right time and secured their qualification.

In their last league game, the Bengaluru-based franchise demolished Mumbai’s batting unit as they bundled the Harmanpreet Kaur-led side to just 113 runs. 

Australia all-rounder Ellyse Perry wreaked havoc with the ball, picking up the best figures (6/15) in the league so far. Her effort will give her and the RCB team some confidence ahead of the Eliminator, which is slated to take place TODAY at Arun Jaitley Stadium in Delhi.

Other than Perry, Mandhana and Richa Ghosh have also been consistent, If their bowlers live up to their potential, RCB can qualify for the final of the competition. Mumbai, meanwhile, will have to improve their batting. 

Promoting Sanjeevan Sajana at the top of the order has proven to be a brilliant decision, but they need Hayley Matthews and Nat Sciver-Brunt to turn up for them the way they did in the last edition.

Pitch Report:

The surface at the Arun Jaitley Stadium in Delhi has favoured the batters so far. The nature of the surface has changed in recent times as it gives high-scoring affairs. Bowling first will be ideal as dew can play a part later in the night, while anything above 165 runs can be considered to be a good total. 

MI-W vs BAN-W Probable Playing XI

Mumbai Indians Women:

Hayley Matthews, S Sajana, Nat Sciver-Brunt, Priyanka Bala (wk), Harmanpreet Kaur (c), Amelia Kerr, Amanjot Kaur, Pooja Vastrakar, Humaira Kazi, Shabnim Ismail, Saika Ishaque

Royal Challengers Bangalore:

Smriti Mandhana (c), Sophie Molineux, Ellyse Perry, Sophie Devine, Richa Ghosh (wk), Georgia Wareham, Disha Kasat, Shreyanka Patil, Asha Sobhana, Shraddha Pokharkar, Renuka Thakur Singh

Probable Best Performers of the Match

Probable Best Batter:

RCB skipper Smriti Mandhana has made 259 runs in eight matches at a strike rate of 145.5 so far in WPL 2024. She is currently the fifth-leading run-scorer and would be hoping to play an important role in the Eliminator to help her team qualify for the finals.

Probable Best Bowler

Ellyse Perry stunned the cricketing world by picking up six wickets in the last match against Mumbai. She hasn’t had a great season with the ball but given her recent form, she can prove to be extremely threatening.

Scenario - 1

Mumbai Indians Women win the toss and bowl

Power Play score - 35-45

First Innings Score- 155-175

Mumbai Indians Women win the match

Scenario - 2

Royal Challengers Bangalore Women win the toss and bowl

Power Play score - 35-45

First Innings Score - 165-185

Royal Challengers Bangalore Women win the match

If we could do exactly the same, we'd be pretty happy with that." Luke Williams, the RCB head coach, knows their re-match against Mumbai Indians in the WPL 2024 Eliminator on Friday (March 15) won't be as easy.

Skipper Harmanpreet Kaur's whirlwind 95* had already put Mumbai in the playoffs before the Ellyse Perry-led seven-wicket thrashing at the hands of Royal Challengers Bangalore earlier this week that cost them a direct seat in the tournament finale for a second successive year. 

Whilst remarkably led by their in-form captain, Mumbai, as a team, have not enjoyed that dominant a run this season - their five victories interspersed by three comprehensive losses.

But a hurt MI unit can be a different beast altogether. Ask UP Warriorz, who inflicted a five-wicket defeat to similarly dent MI's direct qualification berth last year only to be completely outplayed in the subsequent Eliminator.

"Don't you think history is repeating itself?" batting coach Devieka Palshikaar quipped on the eve of the game. The Mumbai camp is seeing this as a good omen, hoping to confront RCB with the all-around might they're known for, and showcase their bouncebackability to make the final showdown, co-incidentally against Delhi Capitals once more.

However, this isn't the RCB of last year that lost five on the trot to be practically out of the knockouts race even before they could find their feet in the competition. 

The reformed and refurbished Smriti Mandhana-led outfit has shown pluck on the field and been much calmer off it. Unlike last year, RCB have had different contributors stepping up on different occasions to help the team redeem itself - be it Asha Sobhana's fifer on the opening night or Mandhana's roaring return to form; be it young Richa Ghosh coming of age or the experienced Perry rewinding the clock.

A couple of close games going their way could have made life easier, and less heartbreaking. But, that they remained incharge of their fate till the end was a big shot in the arm ahead of the "virtual quarterfinal" RCB treated their final league game against MI as. 

That said, RCB are cognizant of the challenge at hand now - of downing the reigning champions again before they can think of the final hurdle - and the fact that they've admittedly been nowhere near perfect thus far. On Friday, anything less will not fly.

Team News

Mumbai Indians

Yastika Bhatia, who missed Mumbai's last league game due to an illness is said to have recovered well and practiced with the team on the eve of the knockout clash. MI confirmed the return of their regular wicketkeeper-cum-opener, meaning S Sajana will likely drop down in the batting order to the finisher's role. Priyanka Bala, therefore, will make way in the only change expected to Mumbai's XI.

Probable XI: Hayley Matthews, Yastika Bhatia (wk), Nat Sciver-Brunt, Harmanpreet Kaur (C), Amelia Kerr, Pooja Vastrakar, S Sajana, Amanjot Kaur, Humaria Kaazi, Shabnim Ismail, Saika Ishaque

Royal Challengers Bangalore

The drop down in the batting order hasn't exactly clicked for Sophie Devine either but RCB might be wary of making any drastic changes in their first knockout match of WPL. S Meghana, who sat out the last couple of games in a difficult tactical call for RCB, could return to the XI in place of Disha Kasat. Between her and Sophie Molineux, RCB have a host of opening combinations to bank on depending on the conditions and match-ups. They'll also likely continue backing left-arm seamer Shraddha Pokharkar.

Probable XI: Smriti Mandhana (C), Sophie Molineux, Ellyse Perry, Sophie Devine, Richa Ghosh (wk), Georgia Wareham, S Meghana, Shreyanka Patil, Asha Sobhana, Shraddha Pokharkar, Renuka Thakur

Did you know?

- MI have a 3-1 win-loss record against RCB in WPL

- Amelia Kerr has bagged the Player of the Match in two of those three wins

- Ellyse Perry is just 1 run away from becoming the fourth batter - after Meg Lanning, Harmanpreet Kaur and Shafali Verma - to register 500 WPL runs

What they said:

"Don't you think history is repeating itself? Last year too we went through this. We'd played UP Warriorz a bit before the Eliminator and lost and we bounced back against them. We're just looking at it [the recent defeat to RCB] as a sign of good luck, hoping that history will repeat. Hopefully we'll see the same result we'd seen last year," - Devieka Palshikaar, MI batting coach

"Meghana missed out on the last game or two [since] we were trying out different combinations. It's a really tough decision with her because she was influential in our early wins in the tournament. [But] there's aspects of our team combinations that we wanted to keep trying different things as well. We'll have some meetings post practice today and she'll be in strong consideration in terms of the line-up for tomorrow," - Luke Williams, RCB head coach, on benching S Meghana