Sports and superstition go together like wine and French cheese.
Patterns are easy to spot and comfortable to believe in. So, why shouldn’t Mumbai Indians draw parallels between its experiences in the Women’s Premier League (WPL) to what happened last season?
“Don’t you think history is repeating?” MI batting coach Devieka Palshikaar asked ahead of the Eliminator against Royal Challengers Bangalore on Friday.
“We lost against UP Warriorz last season in the league and had a slightly up down season towards the end. We then bounced back in the Eliminator with a largely one-sided win. This time too the same pattern has persisted so far and we’re looking at it as a good luck sign,” she quipped.
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RCB’s seven-wicket triumph over MI, its first against this opponent in the league’s nascent history, saw the defending champion thoroughly outplayed by an Ellyse Perry all-round masterclass.
MI head coach Charlotte Edwards did not hold back when she called her middle-order’s showing disappointing after it could only collectively manage only 12 runs. The side’s fielding has also been underwhelming this season. One such dismal effort fired up skipper Harmanpreet Kaur to scorch Gujarat Giants out of the game with a frightening 48-ball 95 but, evidently, no lessons were learnt as the catching and ground fielding both left much to be desired in the loss to RCB.
MI’s strength lies in its bowling attack’s ferocity and versatility. Shabnim Ismail has given the side the comfort of feisty overs at the start, which often also bring dismissals, which others like Amelia Kerr, Pooja Vastrakar and Saika Ishaque have been able to build on.
The opening guard with the bat, Yastika Bhatia, in particular, has also been a big positive for the side this year with 185 runs to her name in seven innings. She got some well-deserved rest when she was benched for the RCB game and is set to take her place in the top order for the Eliminator.
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MI is treating the Bengaluru game as a blip, particularly for its batters, with multiple members of the coaching staff declaring their mantra, ‘A bad game doesn’t make or break a player.’ With the head-to-head largely in their favour, the holders will come into Friday’s clash hoping to put their usual imperious selves on display at the Arun Jaitley Stadium.
For RCB, Perry’s match-winning six-wicket haul and 38-ball 40 was nothing short of a jail break. With its campaign plagued by inconsistency yet again, despite an improved showing particularly with the bat this season, one of the most star-studded sides in the league barely scraped through to the playoffs.
“We’re really excited to qualify for the playoffs. To be able to do that, we’ve needed different contributors at different times. Except, we haven’t been anywhere near perfect,” RCB head coach Luke Williams admitted ahead of Friday’s game.
“We’ve had performances we thought we can improve on. We’re primed to play some good cricket hopefully on Friday and if we’re good enough on Sunday as well,” he added.
RCB has contributed generously to the ‘best fielding moments of the season’ highlights reel with that stunning six save by Georgia Wareham (vs DC in Bengaluru) and Perry’s low sliding catch to dismiss Hayley Matthews in their fixture earlier this week.
However, the team has been unacceptably generous with extras conceded and needs to be tighter to contain a trigger-happy batting arsenal like MI’s.
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For most part of the tournament, fielders in the 30-yard circle could not apply pressure on the batters on strike, allowing the ones and twos to be run without needing to hurry. Every run and every wicket will count and that might be entry number one in Williams’ coaching journal.
At the press conference, Williams was asked about what his strategy against MI would be and he chuckled as he hoped for an encore of Tuesday’s performance.
“If we could do exactly the same, we’d be very happy with that. With our bowling attack, we wanted a balance between pace, seam and spin bowling and we have that. Depending on the surface and the way the game plays out, we believe we have bowling options which can ask tough questions of the MI batters and we have some match-winners in our side. We’re looking for those two elements to complement each other. Especially in knockouts, fielding and catching can be so important. That will certainly be a big focus going into the Eliminator,” he added.
From Perry, Smriti Mandhana and S. Meghana to Richa Ghosh and even Wareham, RCB’s batting depth has been on display this season. A coordinated effort and not leaving the task to one or two players might be the order of day on Friday.
Sophie Devine’s underwhelming run with the bat has often been a point of pain for the side but she has been hitting a few massive sixes over the last few games.
The winner of the Eliminator takes on Delhi Capitals in the final on Sunday. While Mumbai Indians will hope patterns endure and a repeat of last year’s summit clash occurs in fixture and result, RCB will hope to push past MI once more to give an Indian captain a chance to bid for the coveted trophy.
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