Mumbai Indians 170 for 6 (Harmanpreet 50, Sciver-Brunt 42, Wareham 3-21) beat Royal Challengers Bengaluru 167 for 7 (Perry 81, Ghosh 28, Amanjot 3-22) by four wickets
Win the toss, field first, win the match. This has been the story of all seven games in WPL 2025 so far. Mumbai Indians (MI) were the latest benefactors of winning the toss as they beat Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) by four wickets in the first game of the Bengaluru leg.
Mandhana vs Ismail – a short story
It made Ismail switch to around the wicket. For the last ball of the over, she went short again, this time trying to cramp the batter. Mandhana unfurled another four with a pull.
In her next over, Ismail erred in her line, and Mandhana duly cut her to the point boundary twice in three balls. But Ismail had the last laugh. She went short again, angling the ball on this occasion. Mandhana must have been feeling invincible by then. She attempted another pull. But this one took the top edge and Yastika Bhatia settled under it behind the stumps.
Quick wickets leave RCB in trouble
Perry opened her account with a first-ball four, flicking a full delivery from Ismail over square leg. In the next over, she freed her arms and hit Sciver-Brunt over long-on. But MI pulled things back with three quick wickets. Danni Wyatt-Hodge miscued an upper cut against Sciver-Brunt to short third; Raghvi Bist hit Hayley Matthews into the hands of deep midwicket; and Kanika Ahuja chopped Sanskriti Gupta onto her stumps. After nine overs, RCB were 62 for 4.
Perry pristine
RCB did not hit a single boundary from overs six to nine. Perry ended the drought in the tenth when she dispatched Matthews for four. She found support from Richa Ghosh, who smashed a six in the same over. The pair combined to pocket five more fours in the next three overs. By the time Amanjot bowled Ghosh for 28 off 25, the partnership had reached 50 in 38 deliveries.
From there on, Perry carried RCB almost singlehandedly. She hit Amelia Kerr inside out over extra cover to bring her fifty off 30 balls. Two balls later, she jumped out of her crease to deposit Kerr over long-on. In the next over, Matthews paid the price for bowling too short as Perry picked up two more fours. Perry eventually fell to Amanjot on the penultimate ball of the innings but not before hitting the bowler for back-to-back fours.
Matthews, Sciver-Brunt give MI flying start
MI started their chase in an attacking manner, with Bhatia hitting Renuka Singh for two fours in the opening over. Even though Kim Garth trapped Bhatia for 8, there was no respite for RCB. Sciver-Brunt hit two fours off the first two balls she faced to keep the runs flowing. She took it a notch higher in Garth’s next over with three fours.
Matthews joined with back-to-back fours off Wareham. Ekta Bisht, who came in for the sixth over was not spared either. Sciver-Brunt started with a hat-trick of fours and Matthews chipped in with one. The only solace for Bisht was that she had Matthews lbw with her last ball.
Full report to follow
Hemant Brar is a sub-editor at ESPNcricinfo
