UPW vs RCB Highlights WPL 2023: Kanika, bowlers hand RCB first win; Bangalore beats UP by five wickets

RCB finally registers its first win in the WPL 2023 and the credit goes to the bowlers who set up this win. Ellyse Perry starred with the ball with a three-wicket haul with Sophie Devine and Sobhana Asha sharing four wickets among themselves. Megan Schutt and Shreyanka Patil did their job by picking a wicket each. Bangalore lost early wickets in the chase but Kanika Ahuja with a match-winning 46 off 30 balls guided RCB to their maiden win. Not to forget the contribution of Richa Ghosh who remained unbeaten with her 32-ball 31.

Ecclestone gets Kanika as the batter falls for a well-constructed 46 in 30 balls with eight fours and a six under her belt. Another batter falls to a false sweep shot as Ecclestone picks an important wicket. Bangalore needs 12 runs in 18 balls.

The fifty-run partnership is up between Ghosh and Ahuja and Bangalore needs just 22 runs in 30 balls with Ahuja just six short of her half-century.

A brilliant cut shot from Richa Ghosh has brought the 100-up for Bangalore and RCB neds another 35 runs in 42 balls. Kanika Ahuja is seven shot in what could be a brilliant half-century and it is her pyrotechnics with the bat that has helped Bangalore inch towards their first win.

Kanika Ahuja is playing a gem of a knock as she has scored eight boundaries and the counter-attacking innings has helped RCB recover and be in the hunt. Ahuja is currently batting on 36 off 21 balls and the batter is batting at a strike rate of 171.42. Top stuff from the Indian and RCB needs 48 runs in equal deliveries.

The 50 is up for Bangalore but Deepti Sharma strikes to remove Heather Knight. The partnership between Knight and Kanika Ahuja has been broken and Bangalore is in a spot of bother in chasing 136 runs. The winning equation for Bangalore is almost run-a-ball and they will be looking to gun down the chase and improve on their net run-rate, provided they don’t collapse from this stage.

Vaidya strikes and Ellyse Perry falls as she skips down the track and hits straight to the fielder at mid-on. Bangalore needs a partnership to register their first win in the tournament and they need to be careful of not to mess up a small run-chase. Kanika and Knight hold the key.

Heather Knight and Ellyse Perry has forged a partnership and will look to build-on after the early fall of Sophie Devine and Smriti Mandhana. The current rate and the required rate are almost the same going at around 6 runs per over but Bangalore needs this partnership to go along. Both teams have their say at the end of PowerPlay.

Heather Knight has smashed three boundaries and RCB seems to be recovering after the early jolts. Ellyse Perry is also off the mark and has found a boundary. UP attacking with spin from both ends with Sophie Ecclestone and Rajeshwari Gayakwad bowling in tandem. A good partnership should get RCB out of trouble.

Deepti Sharma strikes and she castles Smriti Mandhana. Bangalore on early trouble after doing so well with the ball. A sweep shot that was never there to be played but Smriti goes for it, plays it across the line of the delivery and misses it as the ball crashes on to the middle stump.

Grace Harris provides the early breakthrough for UP as Sophie Devine falls after getting off the blocks in a quick fashion. Devine hammers Harris for 14 runs but falls after hitting straight to the fielder at deep as the swog sleep goes completely wrong. Early jolt for RCB in a small chase.

Ellyse Perry starts with the ball with a three-wicket haul along with Sophie Devine and Shobna Asha who shared four wickets among themselves. The early breakthroughs made by Devine and Megan Schutt handed Bangalore an early advantage and they should chase down this total. Grace Harris stood out with her performance with the bat with a brilliant 32-ball 46 as the rest of the batters failed to score.

Ellyse Perry picks her third wicket and that’s a fabulous show from the pacer. This time she castles Shweta Sehrawat as the batter walks across and misses the lap shot and the ball crashed into the stumps. Bangalore should close out well in the remaining two overs.

Ellyse Perry picks two wickets to bring the momentum back in Bangalore’s favour. Perry first dismisses Deepti Sharma and then removes Grace Harris. UPW is seven down and Bangalore will look to press the advantage of having picked seven wickets and will look to bowl out UP inside the 20 overs.

The 100 is up for UPW and the partnership is worth 69 and the best part from UP’s point of view is that the run-rate has improved dramatically and is currently at 10 rpo. A strong finish at the death will propel UP’s fortunes in the game

Deepti Sharma gets into the act as she drills Devine for a couple of boundaries and Gujarat has got the momentum back after losing their top-order cheaply. Bangalore needs to pick wickets and not allow Gujarat to recover and post a massive total.

Grace Harris has taken the attack to the opposition and has punished Asha Shobna by smacking the leg-spinner for 16 runs in her final over. A boundary behind the square to start with and then a brilliant six high and handsome over the deep mid-wicket and Harris ends the over with a boundary. 48 runs in the last five overs and 31 runs in the last two.

Shreyanka Patil into the attack and Harris releases the pressure with a brilliant six over long-on and that should pinch Richa Ghosh who missed out on a simple stumping. Harris then ends the over with a boundary and she is looking good.

A missed stumping from Richa Ghosh hands Grace Harris a life as Asha Shobana continues to bamboozle the batters with her brilliant leg spin. Gujarat needs some big hits from Harris and Deepti but Bangalore is attacking with spin. A crucial passage of play for both teams.

Grace Harris and Deepti Sharma have a job in their hands as the current run-rate is at 4.30 rpo and Sobhana Asha is in good form with the ball as the leg-spinner has purchased turn and has picked two wickets. UPW has to bat the remaining 10 overs to make a match out of it.

This is some collapse from UP Warriorz as Asha picks her second wicket and Simran Shaikh falls. Another UP batter departs for a sweep shot that has absolutely no connection and ended up getting a top-edge. Easy catch for Ahuja and UP are in danger of not playing out their full quota of 20 overs. Bangalore is firmly on top and RCB supporters will be very happy with their team’s performance. This time the leg spinner joined the party with two wickets.

Another one bites the dust and this time it is Navgire who has fallen to the spin of Asha. Full delivery, Navgire goes for the sweep but ends up getting a top-edge as Ghosh takes her second catch of the night leaving UPW four down inside the first 10 overs.

Bangalore on top of the game in the PowerPlay as they have picked three wickets and have made most of the conditions after winning the toss and opting to bowl first. However, Kiran Navgire is in good touch with the willow as she smashed Renuka Singh for a maximum over the long-off boundary to get the scorecard going for UP.

Kiran Navgire has got her eye in with a couple of lovely boundaries but RCB is attacking with Devine bowling a lovely spell. She finished her third over and is looking threatening with Megan Schutt operating in tandem at the other end.

Kiran Navgire and Grace Harris are in the process of rebuilding after Megan Schutt and Sophie Devine made early inroads, removing the UPW top-order. This is an excellent start and RCB will aim to pick further wickets and take charge of the game.

Megan Schutt strikes immediately after being introduced into the attack as she removes Tahila McGrath. Schutt induces an outside edge and Richa Ghosh pockets an excellent catch by grabbing it just inches above the ground. Brilliant start for RCB.

Sophie Devine strikes and gives RCB an early breakthrough as Vaidya plays across the line to a full delivery and misses the flick. The batter took the review but there was no bat involved and it was Umpire’s call on DRS. Devine then removed Healy who flicks a full delivery straight to the fielder at mid-wicket. What a start for RCB and this could be the day for Smriti Mandhana and Co.

Alyssa Healy and Devika Vaidya are out in the middle and will aim to give UP Warriorz a good start. With the ball it will be Sophie Devine who will start proceedings with the new ball.

“We would have looked to bowl first. But great opportunity for the batters to go out and put a score. Grace Harris is fit and comes in for Shabnim Ismail. RCB have a good batting line up and will come hard at us. I am really proud of the way we have played so far.”

“We will like to field first. It is a fresh wicket and we will try to use it. Thanks to all the fans for supporting us, we have not played the brand of cricket we would like it but we have been backed and we want to do it for each other. Kanika is fit and back into the XI.”

Alyssa Healy(w/c), Devika Vaidya, Kiran Navgire, Grace Harris, Tahlia McGrath, Simran Shaikh, Sophie Ecclestone, Deepti Sharma, Shweta Sehrawat, Anjali Sarvani, Rajeshwari Gayakwad

Smriti Mandhana(c), Sophie Devine, Ellyse Perry, Heather Knight, Richa Ghosh(w), Shreyanka Patil, Disha Kasat, Megan Schutt, Asha Shobana, Renuka Thakur Singh, Kanika Ahuja

Royal Challengers Bangalore wins toss, opts to bowl first

We are all set for the toss as the players are warming up and Bangalore will hope to win the toss and end their losing streak. They have lost five and are almost out of the tournament.

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The WPL matches will be telecast live on the Sports18 network and will be live-streamed on the Jio Cinemas app/website.

Smriti Mandhana(c), Sophie Devine, Ellyse Perry, Heather Knight, Richa Ghosh(w), Shreyanka Patil, Disha Kasat, Megan Schutt, Asha Shobana, Renuka Thakur Singh, Preeti Bose, Erin Burns, Kanika Ahuja, Sahana Pawar, Dane van Niekerk, Komal Zanzad, Indrani Roy, Poonam Khemnar

Alyssa Healy(w/c), Devika Vaidya, Kiran Navgire, Tahlia McGrath, Simran Shaikh, Sophie Ecclestone, Deepti Sharma, Shweta Sehrawat, Shabnim Ismail, Anjali Sarvani, Rajeshwari Gayakwad, Lauren Bell, Grace Harris, Shivali Shinde, Laxmi Yadav, Parshavi Chopra, Soppadhandi Yashasri

S Mandhana(C), DD Kasat, HC Knight, SFM Devine, EA Perry, Preeti Bose, S Asha, Richa Ghosh, Shreyanka Patil, Renuka Singh, ML Schutt

K P Navgire, Shweta Sehrawat, Simran Shaikh, TM McGrath, DP Vaidya, DB Sharma, Alyssa Healy(C), S Ecclestone, S Ismail, K Anjali Sarwani, RS Gayakwad

Wicket-keeper

Richa Ghosh

Batters

Alyssa Healy (C) S Mandhana S Devine K Navgire

All-rounders

E Perry T McGrath D Vaidya D Sharma

Bowlers

M Schutt S Ecclestone

It’s that time of the season when a Royal Challengers Bangalore fan whips out their calculator and hopes for the best for their team. With losses in all its five games so far, RCB now stares a bunch of math, counting on good performances and a whole lot of good luck to make the playoffs of the inaugural season of the Women’s Premier League.

So how can RCB realistically make it to the top three, as things stand?

For starters, Smriti Mandhana’s band of stars need a win against the UP Warriorz at the DY Patil Stadium in Navi Mumbai on Wednesday.