Former champions Royal Challengers Bengaluru defeated UP Warriorz by eight wickets in Vadodara on Thursday to storm into the WPL final and all but eliminate the opposition from the playoff chase.
While UP Warriorz wasted a brilliant start to settle for a below-par 143/8 after Smriti Mandhana chose to field, Nadine de Klerk’s outstanding 4/22 and Grace Harris’ 2/22 drove a spirited RCB recovery with the ball.
With 41 balls remaining, RCB roared home as Harris turned up the heat with the bat, slamming a scorching 75 off 37 balls. RCB secured their spot in the final and finished first in the five-team standings thanks to the convincing victory, which gave them 12 points.
With four points and the lowest net run-rate despite having a game in hand, UP Warriorz’s campaign was in jeopardy after the loss.
Early on, Harris established the tone by dominating Kranti Gaud in the first few overs and then destroying her once more in the third, hitting five boundaries. She lofted Asha Sobhana over long-on to reach her 50 from just 28 balls.
Harris added 108 runs with captain Mandhana, who complemented her with a brilliant 26-ball fifty, while hitting 13 fours and two sixes while dealing nearly in boundaries.
After failing to read an impending cross-seam delivery, Harris was eventually bowled by Shikha Pandey, but there were still more than ten overs left and only 36 runs were needed. Deepti Sharma, the promoted opener, earlier scored her maiden half-century of the year with a smooth 55 off 43 balls (6×4, 1×6).
UPW got off to a fast start thanks to a 72-run opening partnership between Deepti and Meg Lanning (41) in 49 balls, which was their highest of the season. However, the innings collapsed in the middle overs as De Klerk and Harris applied the brakes.
From 74 for no loss in eight overs, UPW slumped to 103 for 4 in 13.2 overs. After dismissing Lanning, De Klerk trapped Amy Jones (1) lbw with a cross-seam delivery, setting off the collapse.
Then, Harris dismissed Harleen Deol (14) and Chloe Tryon (6) in consecutive overs, as RCB took total control.
