Olympics Begin In
:
Days
:
Hours
:
Mins
 
Secs
Begin typing your search above and press return to search.

Women's Cricket

WPL: Mathews, Sciver-Brunt shine as Mumbai Indians crush RCB by 9 wickets

Chasing 156, MI reached their target with 34 balls to spare.

Hayley Matthews Mumbai Indians WPL
X

Hayley Matthews (Source: WPL/Twitter)

By

PTI

Updated: 6 March 2023 5:39 PM GMT

Mumbai Indians beat Royal Challengers Bangalore by nine wickets in their Women's Premier League match here on Monday. Chasing 156, MI reached their target with 34 balls to spare.

After picking three wickets, Hayley Matthews completed a fine all-round show by scoring a 38-ball 77, while Nat Sciver-Brunt made 55 off 29 balls. Earlier, RCB were all out for 155 in 18.4 overs.

Opting to bat after winning the toss, RCB were off to a brisk start with the opening duo of skipper Smriti Mandhana and Sophie Devine adding 39 runs in 4.2 overs, when the latter was dismissed by Saika Ishaque for an 11-ball 16.

Disha Kasat failed to open her account, before Mandhana was sent back by Hayley Matthews for a 17-ball 23, the RCB captain yet again falling after getting a start. Richa Ghosh, then, contributed 28 off 26 balls.

Later, RCB were helped by useful cameos from Kanika Ahuja (22 off 13), Shreyanka Patil (23 off 15) and Megan Schutt (20 off 14).

Matthews yet again forged a defining partnership with England's Nat Sciver-Brunt, with the two right-handed batters hammering the RCB bowlers all over the park to put on an unbeaten 114-run stand for the second wicket.

If Matthews produced an all-round show to help Mumbai Indians to their second win, the uncapped Saika Ishaque also impressed once again, grabbing two wickets and taking her tally in the tournament to six.

Nat Sciver-Brunt, who couldn't get a good start in the opening game, made up for the disappointment on Monday by cracking an unbeaten 55 off 29 balls, studded with 10 fours and a six.

'Player of the Match' Matthews seemed to have picked up from where she had left off at the DY Patil Stadium the other night, playing her strokes with power, precision and command. Matthews hammered 13 boundaries and a six in her 38-ball unbeaten 77, which came after she had returned superb bowling figures of 4-0-28-3.

She accounted for RCB skipper Smriti Mandhana, Heather Knight and Richa Ghosh. Matthews might have taken her fourth wicket in her final over but Renuka Thakur thwacked the ball real hard for the bowler too take the return catch.

The only breakthrough for RCB came in the fifth over when Preeti Bose trapped Yastika Bhatia in front of the wickets for a well-made 23 off 19 balls.

The Mumbai wicketkeeper-batter, who looked out of sorts in the first match, broke the shackles with an unconventional shot that got her the first four of the innings, and she did well to help forge a 45-run first-wicket stand.

Sciver-Brunt took a liking for Shreyanka Patil in the eighth over, clobbering three boundaries to put Mumbai Indians in almost a run-a-ball situation from thereon. Sciver-Brunt and Matthews took on Patil once again, this time in the 13th over, with three fours and a six getting them 20 runs.

Mumbai Indians, who won the first game by 143 runs against Gujarat Giants, now have four points from two matches with a net run rate (NRR) of 5.185.

Brief scores: Royal Challengers Bangalore: 155 all out in 18.4 overs (Richa Ghosh 28; Hayley Matthews 3/28). Mumbai Indians: 159/1 in 14.2 overs (Hayley Matthews 77 not out, Nat Sciver-Brunt 55 not out).

Next Story