In the Women’s Premier League Eliminator, the reigning champion Mumbai Indians will draw motivation from their captain Harmanpreet Kaur as they take on the tenacious Royal Challengers Bangalore.
Protecting the winners When the Mumbai Indians play a determined Royal Challengers Bangalore in the Women’s Premier League Eliminator on Friday in New Delhi, they will turn to their captain, Harmanpreet Kaur, for motivation. Mumbai enters the game having had three losses and five victories, including a seven-wicket loss to RCB earlier this week. The holders, though, view it as a unique off day. “I’ve observed regularity. All of the games that we won, excluding the most recent match. Yes, the previous match’s performance was subpar, but it’s all right.
“We are ready for the upcoming match. We are viewing this as a positive indication, as it occurred prior to the Eliminators,” MI batting coach Devika Palshikaar stated the night before the match.
UP Warriorz defeated MI in the league stage last year, severely hurting their chances of making the playoffs. Before winning the title, Harmanpreet and Company won a one-sided eliminator.
Do you not believe that the past is repeating itself? We experienced similar ups and downs prior to the Eliminators last year as well, but we recovered and played them one-sided in the Eliminator.
“So, we are taking this as a ‘good luck’ sign hoping that we are going to repeat the same history this year with the same results as last year,“Palshikaar added.
With a brilliant 95 not out against the Gujarat Giants, Harmanpreet saved MI, and the captain will be crucial at the bat on Friday.
Although RCB has significantly improved from the previous season, Smriti Mandhana and company have qualified for their first-ever knockout round despite an uneven performance. They’ve had four victories and four defeats.
Positives for RCB include Mandhana getting back to his previous level of play, as well as runs from big-hitter Richa Ghosh and all-rounder Ellyse Perry.
The bowling group, which includes Perry, Asha Sobhana, Sophie Devine, Sophie Molineux, and Shreyanka Patil, has also performed admirably; however, they will need to be exceptionally sharp against MI.
“We’re ecstatic to have earned a playoff spot. We have required various contributors at different times in order to be able to accomplish that. But we haven’t been close to flawless,” RCB head coach Luke Williams remarked. There have been times when we felt like we could have done better. Hopefully on Friday, and if we’re good enough, on Sunday as well, we’re ready to play some excellent cricket,” he continued.
MI defeats RCB 3-1 in their head-to-head match.
The victorious team will play the Delhi Capitals in the Sunday championship game.
