Navi Mumbai, Mar 16 (Representative) Royal Challengers Bangalore beat UP Warriorz on Wednesday in Match 13 of the Tata WPL at the DY Patil Stadium here on Wednesday.The RCB bowlers put on an impressive performance to bowl UPW out for 135. Ellyse Perry picked up three wickets (3/16) while Sophie Devine (2/23) and Sobhana Asha(2/27) scalped two wickets each.Kanika Ahuja then shone with the bat with a match-turning 30-ball 46 to help RCB chase the target down with 12 balls to spare.Chasing 136, Sophie Devine started off in an aggressive fashion hitting a couple of fours and a six off the first four balls. However it was Harris who won the battle as she had Devine caught at deep mid-wicket off the last ball of the over.Deepti Sharma then struck off her second ball, in the second over, as she cleaned up Smriti Mandhana for a duck. Ellyse Perry and Heather Knight then got together and tried to steady the ship as RCB reached 43/2 at the end of Powerplay.Healey then introduced Devika Vaidya into the attack and she struck first ball as she had Perry caught at mid-on. An over later Deepti Sharma provided another jolt to the RCB as she had the set Knight (24 off 21) caught at deep square leg to reduce RCB to 60/4.Kanika Ahuja then provided the impetus as she went on the counter-attack hitting 6 fours and a six in the space of 15 balls as RCB reached 100 in the 13th over. Ahuja and Richa Ghosh led RCB’s fightback as the pair added 60 off 46 balls.Ecclestone returned to break the partnership as she cleaned up Ahuja for 46 (30).
But the talented left-hand batsman had already put RCB on the driver’s seat by then.Ghosh then provided the finishing touches with a six and a four off Deepti before Shreyanka Patil hit the winning run to win the match by five wickets and register their first win in the tournament.Earlier, Royal Challengers Bangalore won the toss and elected to bowl. They made one change as Kanika Ahuja replaced Preeti Bose while UPW too made one change to the side as Grace Harris came in for Shabnim Ismail.Sophie Devine got RCB off to a good start as she trapped Devika Vaidya LBW via an inswinger off the second ball of the innings. Vaidya reviewed it but replays showed it was clipping leg and was umpire’s call. And three balls later, Devine had the big wicket of Alyssa Healy who flicked one straight to mid-wicket.Megan Schutt opened the bowling with Devine and she too struck in her first over as she had Tahlia McGrath caught behind for 2. Kiran Navgire then hit the first boundary of the innings as she pulled a short one down the leg side from Devine to fine leg for a four.The next eight balls yielded just three runs. Navgire then released some pressure as she pulled another short one, this time from Schutt, powerfully through square leg for the second four of the innings.Navgire then charged down to Renuka Thakur and smacked it over long off for the first six of the innings.
The RCB bowlers bowled tight lines and didn’t give the batters much as they restricted UPW to 29/3 in the Powerplay.Sobhana Asha was then introduced into the attack and she struck off her second ball as Navgire went for a slog sweep but ended up top-edging it and the keeper made no mistake.Asha struck in her next over again as she had Simran Shaikh top-edge a slog sweep with Kanika Ahuja pouching a good catch.Asha bowled beautifully and mixed flight with guile and she got turn off the surface as well. She could have had another one in the over but Heather Knight dropped Deepti Sharma at slip to give her a lifeline.And then Grace Harris got a life as Richa Ghosh missed a stumping, off the bowling of Asha.Harris then rubbed salt on RCB wounds as she smacked a six and a couple of fours off Shreyanka Patil in the next over to release the pressure valve.Harris continued to attack and this time took on the best bowler of the day as she again hit a six and a couple of fours off Asha to make it 16 runs off the over. Deepti then upped her scoring as she hit consecutive fours off Devine.Harris and Deepti brought up the 50-run stand off just 32 balls.Smriti Mandhana then brought Ellyse Perry into the attack and it worked wonders. Perry finally broke the stand as she had Deepti caught at deep mid-wicket, off a full toss. And two balls later she got the huge wicket of Harris as she had her caught behind off a short delivery on 46.Perry then picked up her third as she cleaned up Shweta Sehrawat and finished with impressive figures of 3/16.Sophie Ecclestone and Anjali Sarvani then added 21 off 12 balls to provide a bit of a late surge but UPW were bowled out for 135 in the first innings.