Defending champions Royal Challengers Bangalore are out of the tournament after suffering a 12-run defeat to UP Warrioz in Lucknow on Saturday. The Smriti Mandhana-led side battled hard in an intense contest but were ultimately unable to chase down the highest total in the tournament’s history.
Highlights of UP Warriorz vs Royal Challengers Bangalore match:
After losing the toss, UP Warriorz were asked to bat first at the Ekana Cricket Stadium in Lucknow, which turned out to be a blessing in disguise for Deepti Sharma’s women.
Opener Georgia Voll (99*) and her partner Grace Harris (39) gave the hosts a blistering start to the innings. After Harris’s dismissal, Voll received some support from Kiran Navgire (46), but it was largely a one-woman show from then on as RCB claimed the highest total of the tournament (225/5) by the end of their 20 overs.
In reply, RCB’s openers failed to make an impression as Smriti Mandhana departed after scoring just 4 runs, while Sabbhineni Meghana scored a blazing 27 off 12 balls before heading to the pavilion herself.
The RCB innings could not settle down from there as they lost wickets at crucial intervals, but Richa Ghosh’s lone knock (69 off 33 balls) gave UP Warriorz some headaches before she was dismissed with RCB needing 55 from 3.4 overs.
Another shocker came from Sneh Rana (26 off 6 balls) who put the RCB bowlers under pressure. Rana’s symphony of 4, 6, 6, 4, 6 in the 18th over of the innings against Deepti Rana made it the most expensive over in the history of the tournament, costing 28 runs.
The game was now tight with RCB needing just 15 runs from 7 balls, but Sharma showed her class to dismiss Rana and Voll bowled an economical over to end the title hopes of the defending champions.
