Ellyse Perry dominated with the ball and bat to help RCB cruise to a seven-wicket win against Mumbai Indians at the Arun Jaitley Stadium on Tuesday and book their place in the WPL 2024 playoffs. The all-rounder Ellyse Perry ripped through MI”s batting to bag 6 for 15 – the best ever in the tournament’s history – before top-scoring with an unbeaten 40 to help the side over the line with five overs to spare.
Ellyse Perry coming into Royal Challengers Bangalore’s final group game of WPL 2024, had not picked up a single wicket in six outings. She more than made up for that by returning the best-ever figures in the WPL, and propelling RCB into the playoffs. It was a sensational display of swing bowling from Perry, who finished with 6 for 15 to help bowl Mumbai Indians out for a mere 113.
And Ellyse Perry wasn’t done yet. With RCB losing their top three quickly, she then carried the chase with an unbeaten 38-ball 40. She had an ally in Richa Ghosh, who remained not out on 36 off 28 as RCB sealed a seven-wicket win in Delhi.
Pitch and Toss
It’s a new pitch at the Arun Jaitley Stadium and therefore the dimensions will be different. Straight – 64 meters, square boundaries – 50 meters and 60 meters. The pitch looks hard and well prepared, the batters will have a reasonably good time here on this surface. The fast bowlers have to be very particular about the lines they bowl because they’ll succeed by bowling a straighter line. 61% of the wickets have come from the stump-to-stump line. Their task is cut out.” reckons W V Raman.
Royal Challengers skipper Smriti Mandhana won the toss to bowl first and went on with the unchanged team from previous game. Mumbai Indians skipper Harmanpreet Kaur made one change in the squad bringing in Priyanka Bala for Yastika Bhatia.
Smriti Mandhana’s decision at the toss bears fruit as MI gets to a steady start in the powerplay before Ellyse Perry wrecked havoc
With Yastika Bhatia ruled out of the contest, MI altered their opening combination, promoting the hard-hitting S Sajana to partner Hayley Matthews at the top. The duo couldn’t motor along at a high scoring rate, but managed to add 43 runs for the opening wicket before Matthews perished off the last ball of the powerplay, courtesy a fine low catch by Ellyse Perry at deep square leg.
Sajana who had struggled to hit the big shots in the powerplay, took the attack to Devine in the eighth over, and mid-way through the ninth over, MI were well-placed at 65 for 1 before Ellyse Perry wreaked havoc with the ball.
It takes a brave captain to go against the tide, especially in a game that could make or break the team’s season. Six of the seven games in the Delhi-leg of the WPL before today had been won by the sides batting first. Even the one that Mumbai won chasing required a Harmanpreet Kaur special. Despite that, Mandhana elected to field, citing the match being played on a fresh surface as the reason. And her decision paid off.
With Yastika Bhatia out due to illness, Mumbai had a new opening pair in S Sajana and Hayley Matthews. The duo added 43 for the opening wicket, but once Matthews fell, it was all one-way traffic.
Ellyse Perry’s magic leaves Mumbai Indians dumbfounded as they skittled out for mere 113
It started with a catch, it ended with the poles being hit four times – interspersed by two lbws – as Ellyse Perry ripped through Mumbai in a sensational display of swing and seam bowling. She was involved in each of the first seven Mumbai wickets to fall and by the time she was done, RCB had one foot in the playoffs.
Sophie Devine struck first removing Matthews with Perry taking an excellent catch diving forward at deep midwicket. Ellyse Perry started well with the ball conceding only a run in her first over, but Mumbai were still motoring along at close to eight runs an over. From no wickets off her first nine balls, she picked up six off her next 15 as Mumbai collapsed from 61 for 1 in 8.3 overs to 82 for 7 in 13.
It was the good length ball that brought about Mumbai’s undoing. Ellyse Perry first got through Sajana’s defenses with a sharp in-ducker that clattered into her off stump. The very next ball, Ellyse Perry went away from Harmanpreet who drove at it half-heartedly only to manage a thick inside-edge back onto her stumps.
The first ball of her next over, Ellyse Perry got another good length ball to deviate sharply back into Amelia Kerr, who was rapped on the pads and a loud appeal ensued. RCB challenged the on-field umpire’s not-out decision and were proven right. Amanjot Kaur pulled Ellyse Perry first ball but was sent back immediately after with another booming inswinger that cut her in half.
Ellyse Perry picked her fifth wicket by cleaning up Pooja Vastrakar and then claimed the WPL record for the best figures off the final ball of her spell trapping Nat-Sciver Brunt in front. In all, Ellyse Perry bowled 18 dot balls in her four-over spell, leaving Mumbai clueless. Priyanka Bala, on WPL debut, remained unbeaten on 19 to take Mumbai past the 100-mark.
Debutant Priyanka Bala attempted to hit a few big shots, but even as she struggled and added 19 runs, there wasn’t much support from the other end. RCB’s spinners – S Asha, Shreyanka Patil and Sophie Molineux – chipped in with a wicket each to bundle out MI for 113.
MI pose early threat with quick wickets.
Sophie Molineux’s underwhelming campaign with the bat continued as Hayley Matthews had her stumped for a run-a-ball nine in the third over. MI could’ve had her dismissed in the previous over itself but Sciver-Brunt put down an easy catch at cover. Nonetheless, that wasn’t to hurt much.
In the next over, Sciver-Brunt made up for the drop by having Smriti caught behind. By the end of the powerplay, RCB had cautiously moved to 39 for 2. However, right after that, Ismail had Sophie Devine bowled to put some stress in the chase. But that happened to be the last of MI’s challenges.
Ellyse Perry, Richa Ghosh take RCB into the playoffs.
With a low target to go after, Ellyse Perry and Richa Ghosh cut down on the risk. Perry had got going with a boundary and a six in the last over of the powerplay, but thereafter just cashed in when MI were erring in their attack. They targeted two deliveries each over to go on the offensive. A few extras helped along the way as the duo wiped off the remaining 76 runs in 8.5 overs. While Ellyse Perry’s innings included five boundaries and a six, Ghosh’s slightly more offensive 36* included four boundaries and two sixes.
Presentations and Road Ahead
Harmanpreet Singh the losing captain said :
“She (Perry) bowled really well today. None of us took the responsibility to bat deep today. We tried our best, unfortunately we dropped some chances. Our bowlers were giving their 100 percent, score was not enough on the board,”
“None of us batted according to the way she was bowling. She bowled really well and we should give credit to her. Today’s game will teach us a lot of things. We will sit together and see how we have to make our plan for the next game,”
Smriti Mandhana the winning captain said :
“The last match losing by one run is not ideal, the whole conversation was that 1 run doesn’t make us a bad team. We had actually played some good cricket this season and just needed to keep our head high. They did have a good start, but there was little calmness with the group today from the time we had our meeting and it was a brilliant spell (from Perry) to watch,”
“Today’s match was very important for us to get going, we wanted to come out and play good cricket and for Perry to come back and take those 6 wickets, wow that was some sight to watch. We didn’t focus on other teams and other equations, we just wanted to win and glad everyone stepped up in the crucial match,”
Ellyse Perry Player of the Match for 6 wickets and 40 runs said :
“Nice to come out and play a great game with the girls, just really enjoyable. I really enjoyed bowling and did some work with coaches back home in the last 3 years. I just managed to find a good length and it did a little bit off the wicket,”
“The games come thick and fast and I loved that partnership with Richa Ghosh and it was great to spend some time out there in the middle. We are getting used to conditions in Delhi and looking forward to play some good cricket here,”
It’s an Ellyse Perry show all the way. The only phase that Mumbai won was when they had a decent first few overs where they scored 43 for the loss of just one wicket right at the edge of the powerplay. Post that. Perry made the ball talk with her fiery nip-backers and made the Mumbai batters dance to her tunes. Chasing a low score, RCB lost 3 wickets for 39, but the pair of Perry and Richa ensured no further hiccups to help their side get past the winning line.
Nat Sciver-Brunt had a shocker of a day in the field where she dropped 2 absolute sitters and looked a bit sloppy while fielding as well. That said, RCB never panicked and always had the chase under control. All in all, a comprehensive win for RCB and they needed this badly. RCB’s win snuffed out Gujarat Giants and UP Warriorz’s playoff hopes. The commanding victory has also severely dented Mumbai Indians’ chances of finishing at the top of the table, needing Gujarat Giants to beat Delhi Capitals roughly by a margin of 120 runs/90 balls to spare.