WPL 2023, MI vs RCB blog: Hayley Matthews, Nat Sciver-Brunt power MI to nine-wicket win

That will be all for this blog, join us tomorrow for Delhi Capitals vs UP Warriorz, that should be a good one between two sides with wins from their first match.

Player of the match: 3/28 and 77 off 38 balls. Hayley Matthews has the Orange Cap too. What a night. “Enjoying the freedom I have been given at the top of the order,” she says.

Harmanpreet Kaur: Bowling, we did much better in the first game but today we got the breakthroughs. We wanted to chase anyway, that was good. Everyone in the team is ready for the challenges. Really really happy they are up for their challenges.

Points table: That Net Run Rate is so good for MI, for RCB problems and problems.

Nat Sciver-Brunt: Yeah absolutely I’d like to bat on this wicket all evening. The bowlers did well by taking regular wickets, we are expecting to go for runs here so it is about keeping things as unpredictable as possible. Would like to have Matthews backfoot shot over extra in my armoury, pretty please. The atmosphere in the team is great, enjoying each other’s success.

Smriti Mandhana: Wouldn’t say anything to the bowlers today, we were below par with the bat. Many of us including me got starts but didn’t convert. We won’t dwell on it, we will try and be as positive as we can.

MI 159/1 after 14.2 overs: MI win by 9 wickets! A 143-run followed by a win with 34 balls left. That is an incredible start to the tournament for MI. Nat Sciver-Brunt finishes things with two fours and crosses her half century too.

MI 151/1 after 14 overs: Six singles in that over by Preeti Bose, feels like a glitch in the matrix.

MI 145/1 after 13 overs: 20 runs in Patil’s over! This is destruction. The fielding has collapsed for RCB, and the batting is just next level. A six for NSB. Three fours too in that over, couple for Matthews.

MI 125/1 after 12 overs: Ouch this is so difficult for RCB. Three fours in the Schutt over, two for Matthews.

MI 110/1 after 11 overs: HUGE OVER! As Charlotte Edwards makes the point on her chat that Matthews has the chance to express herself in franchise cricket, she plays a lovely lofted shot for four. NSB with a four in that over, could have been another too but for Perry’s genius.

MI 95/1 after 10 overs: And that is a superb half century!

MI 87/1 after 9 overs: And Matthews continues to find gaps and only gaps, closing in on a half century. Two fours in Renuka Singh’s over who has been expensive.

MI 76/1 after 8 overs: A good day with the bat but Shreyanka Patil can only smile wryly at the end of first over. Starts off with a couple of shortish balls that are punished by Sciver-Brunt and the over ends with a deft reverse paddle.

MI 64/1 after 7 overs: Another four for Matthews in that Perry over, tickled down the fine leg.

MI 54/1 after 6 overs: This is an exhibition from Matthews. One square cut followed by a straight drive for fours off Schutt. What a powerplay for MI.

MI 45/1 after 5 overs: WICKET! Soft dismissal. Misses a length ball trying to play square of the wicket. Matthews tells her not to review, good call. Bhatia lbw b Bose 23 (19 balls)

MI 34/0 after 4 overs: Megan Schutt into the attack and Heather Knight was hoping she’d get some swing, but not much on offer. Bhatia finishes that over with another four.

MI 26/0 after 3 overs: Magnificent shot through the offside and this is a great start from Bhatia. Not her forte but she is showing improvements. Her shot-making has never been an issue, intent sometimes is. Matthews too with a four over short-fine. Great start this for MI, expensive from Thakur.

MI 15/0 after 2 overs: Mindful of her slow start last match, Bhatia is showing greater intent today. Bose into the attack and a couple of sweeps for four.

MI 6/0 after 1 over: Matthews gets going with a little streaky outside edge for four, good comeback from Thakur to keep it to 6 in the opening over.

RCB have to take the opening wicket a *little* earlier than they did against DC. Bhatia and Matthews in the middle.

Purple Cap: Saika Ishahque, for taking her tally to six wickets.

RCB 155 all out after 18.4 overs: Schutt is stumped by Kerr and RCB will finish the innings with 8 balls left. Disappointing batting effort overall from a strong lineup. Schutt st Bhatia b Kerr 20 (14 balls)

RCB 154/9 after 18.2 overs: Schutt getting stranded here. Thakur with a wild swing and the signature googly by Kerr does the trick. Thakur b Kerr 2 (5 balls)

RCB 154/8 after 18 overs: Schutt with another four, sweeps Matthews well. The West Indies captain finishes with 4-0-28-3.

RCB 146/8 after 17 overs: WICKET! Too risky to sweep NSB off a full length. Given out LBW on the field and the review returns three reds. End of a fine little knock. Patil lbw Sciver-Brunt 23 (15 balls)

RCB 132/7 after 16 overs: Shreyanka with a couple of brilliant shots for four off Ishaque’s bowling. The Karnataka youngster is impressing!

RCB 123/7 after 15 overs: Schutt and Shreyanka are keeping things ticking here. Schutt played a good hand in the previous match. Hardly gets to bat for Australia, maybe this is her chance.

Correction: *Nearly a half century in Game 1. Wickets of Smriti Mandhana and Richa Ghosh in Game 2. Hayley Matthews showing again quite a steal it was for MI to bring her in at base price.

RCB 112/7 after 13.3 overs: WICKET! Oh dear that’s the last thing RCB wanted. Matthews tosses it up, Ghosh tempted into a slog sweep and it is caught at deep midwicket. Commentator says later that it was hit into the wind. Ghosh c Sciver-Brunt b Matthews 28 (26 balls)

RCB 105/6 after 12.3 overs: WICKET! And that’s the end of a good cameo from Ahuja. Misreads Ahuja’s slower ball, leading edge taken by Bhatia. Ahuja c Bhatia b Vastrakar 22 (13 balls)

Break in play for some reason, not sure why. Vastrakar with the ball.

RCB 102/5 after 12 overs: Ahuja with another couple of boundaries in that four, two fours off Kalita who comes on to bowl her first over. Nearly another mix up there. Ghosh says no, Ahuja slips while turning back. Didn’t seem like there was a run there.

RCB 92/5 after 11 overs: Ahuja in the house! Taking on Kerr, a sweep for four and a lovely pick up shot for six. The RCB camp enjoyed that.

RCB 81/5 after 10 overs: Another four past short-fine for Richa, using the pace of Wong. Decent over for RCB as Ahuja joins Ghosh. Can they post something decent in the back-end?

RCB’s Ben Sawyer too reckons the UltraEdge missed the edge off Richa Ghosh’s attempted pull a while back.

RCB 71/5 after 8.1 overs: WICKET! This was on the cards. Both Perry and Ghosh were running chaotically. This one all on Ghosh, caught ball-watching. But what a great combination work on the field, NSB stops. the ball with the dive and Kazi with a directi hit. Perry run out (Kazi/NSB) 13 (7 balls0

RCB 71/4 after 8 overs: EVENTFUL OVER. Looked like Ghosh had edged a bouncer to the keeper, the first replay on review shows deflection but nothing on UltraEdge. There was a six and four for Ghosh too in that NSB over and more confusion running between the wickets.

RCB 57/4 after 7 overs: Oh Perry good! Superb shot down the ground for six off Kerr. Nearly a mix-up too with Ghosh, that would have been disastrous.

RCB 47/4 after 6 overs: Things escalated quickly for RCB in that powerplay.

RCB 43/4 after 5.3 overs: WICKET! HAYLEY! A terrific delivery this, lovely flight and some drift too, beats Knight and through the gate. Knight b Matthews 0 (1 ball)

RCB 43/3 after 5.2 overs: WICKET! The big one. The match-up with Matthews works and Harmanpreet is so pumped up. Should Mandhana have waited to weather the storm? Goes down the track and mishits to point. Mandhana c Wong b Matthews 23 (17 balls)

RCB 43/2 after 5 overs: What an over! Two wickets for Saika Ishaque as she picks up from where she left off in the previous match. Two boundaries in the over, but both could have been stopped. Devine the first to fall and some words exchanged. Then Kasat is bowled.

Devine c Amanjot b Ishaque 16 (11 balls)

Kasat b Ishaque 0 (2 balls)

RCB 35/0 after 4 overs: Three fours in the Wong over for Mandhana! Two terrific shots, sandwiching a streaky one in between. Both Wong and Kaur are wondering what-if. They had just taken the slip off.

RCB 22/0 after 3 overs: That was a lovely contest between Saika Ishaque and Sophie Devine in that over. Starts with a four, a streaky cut past short-third. But the left-arm spinner comes back well. Stopped in the run-up couple of times when Devine moved around at the crease, held her nerve.

RCB 17/0 after 2 overs: Mandhana shows her back-foot game in that over, pulling a short ball for four. NSB induces the false-shot with a fuller length, but it evades Kaur.

Nat Sciver-Brunt from the other end. Wong has to wait.

RCB 11/0 after 1 over: A delightful push through cover by Mandhana for the first over. All timing. Was actually a good pull-back from Matthews seeing Mandhana come down. Devine finishes the over with a sweep over square leg for six. There is so much wind out there at the moment.

Smriti Mandhana and Sophie Devine opening the batting again. Can RCB’s bounce back from the defeat yesterday? MI are starting with Hayley Matthews today. Harmanpreet knows the match-up with Mandhana.

7.25 pm: Smriti Mandhana mentioned at the toss that she’d like to see one of the top four bat till the 16th or 17th over. MI’s batting firepower means RCB will needed more than par.

India’s captain & vice captain.

MI’s captain & RCB’s captain.

It’s the first of Harmanpreet Kaur-Smriti Mandhana clashes in the WPL.

A recap of how things unfolded in Navi Mumbai over the opening weekend:

Team news: RCB make one change, bringing in off-spinner Shreyanka Patil for leg-spinner Asha Joy. MI are unchanged.

MI XI: Yastika Bhatia(wk), Hayley Matthews, Nat Sciver-Brunt, Harmanpreet Kaur(c), Amelia Kerr, Pooja Vastrakar, Issy Wong, Amanjot Kaur, Humaira Kazi, Jintimani Kalita, Saika Ishaque

RCB XI: Smriti Mandhana(c), Sophie Devine, Ellyse Perry, Disha Kasat, Richa Ghosh (wk), Heather Knight, Kanika Ahuja, Megan Schutt, Shreyanka Patil, Preeti Bose, Renuka Thakur Singh

Replug for a feature on Harmanpreet’s near flawless knock on opening night:

TOSS: Smriti Mandhana wins the toss and opts to bat first in a very windy CCI.

6.58 pm: RCB’s match 1 saw them miss their mark with the ball against a strong DC batting lineup. That will be their main concern to correct just more than 24 hours.

WPL 2023, RCB vs DC blog: Shafali, Lanning, Norris star as Delhi Capitals win by 60 runs

06.55 pm: Hello and welcome to our live blog of the Women’s Premier League. It’s match No 4 and it’s a big one.

Two of Indian team’s superstars go head-to-head in what is the first of many blockbuster chapters. It’s Harmanpreet Kaur’s Mumbai Indians and Smriti Mandhana’s Royal Challengers Bangalore. MI started with a huge win against Gujarat Giants, with Harmanpreet Kaur and Saika Ishaque starring with the bat and ball. RCB had a tough outing against Delhi Capitals and will be keen to get on board.

Photos / screenshots in the blog courtesy: wplt20.com and JioCinema