Defending champions RCB beat MI to avoid wooden spoon in WPL 2025

Defending champions Royal Challengers Bengaluru finished their campaign in WPL 2025 with a 11-run win over Mumbai Indians on Tuesday at Brabourne Stadium in Mumbai.

Batting first, Royal Challengers Bengaluru got off to a flying start, courtesy of a 41-run power-packed opening partnership between Sabbhineni Meghana (26 off 13) and captain Smriti Mandhana.

After the departure of Meghana, Mandhana joined hands with in-form Ellyse Perry to put together 59 runs for the second wicket. The duo sent Amelia Kerr on a leather hunt in her very first over of the spell (eighth over of the innings). Kerr, who was not introduced from the same end from where she scalped three wickets just 24 hours back, leaked as many as 22 runs. However, bowling her second over from the same end, Kerr got the better of Mandhana (53 off 37), who perished after registering her fourth WPL half-century. The New Zealander created a couple of chances but both went begging, first a caught and bowled opportunity to get rid of Perry and then a miscue from Mandhana that was spilled by young Sanskriti Gupta at square leg.

Perry continued to stay strong and brewed another 50+ partnership, this time with Richa Ghosh (36 off 22) for the third wicket. Towards the end, Georgia Wareham did what she does best and bludgeoned an unbeaten 31 off just 10 balls to take her side to a mammoth 199 in 20 overs. Perry, who was dropped on 16 by Kerr of her own bowling, added another 33 runs to her tally.

Mumbai Indians’ bowlers had an off day at office as they managed to pick just three wickets. Hayley Matthews accounted for two and Amelia Kerr for one. Three (Shabnim Ismail, Amelia Kerr, and Parunika Sisodia) of the seven bowlers used by Harmanpreet Kaur went for more than 10 runs per over.

Chasing a daunting total of 200, Mumbai Indians lost their opening pair of Hayley Matthews (19 off 16) and Amelia Kerr (9 off 10) inside the powerplay as Sneh Rana struck twice in consecutive overs. Later, captain Harmanpreet Kaur (20 off 18) and Natalie Sciver-Brunt put together 40 runs for the third wicket to rescue the team from trouble. However, when it seemed that the home team was bouncing back, Kim Garth provided the visitors with the breakthrough as she bagged the prized wicket of Harmanpreet.

Now, the fortunes of Mumbai Indians rested with Sciver-Brunt and she did not disappoint. The English all-rounder struck her four half-century of this season. In the process, she shared a 51-run partnership with Amanjot Kaur. With another 71 runs to get off 31 balls, Sciver-Brunt perished against the run of play, thanks to Ellyse Perry, who held on to a skier of her own bowling. As often one gets two and two gets three in the game of cricket, new batter Yastika Bhatia (4 off 4) fell in the next over and Amanjot Kaur (17 off 15) in the over after that. Soon, G Kamalini (6 off 4) and Sanskriti Gupta (10 off 4) were sent packing in the 18^th and 19^th overs respectively.

With 28 runs to get of the last over and with two wickets in hand, the chances of a Mumbai Indians’ win looked bleak. The only hope for the home team was the presence of S Sajana in the middle. She hit a couple of sixes to keep the hopes alive, but that was not enough, as Perry restricted the runs scored in that over to 16.

The result of this match has once again brought Gujarat Giants and Mumbai Indians face to face in the space of three days. They will lock horns against each other in the Eliminator on Thursday at the same venue.