Amelia Kerr's All-Round Show Downs RCB in a Low-Scoring Encounter
Amelia Kerr (Source: BCCI/WPL)
Amelia Kerr's 3 wickets and 31* were enough for her side Mumbai Indians to defeat the Royal Challengers Bangalore by 4 wickets to move to the top of the table.
Kerr and bowlers destroy RCB batting line-up
Asked to bat first, RCB skipper Smriti Mandhana and hero of the last game Sophie Devine walked out in the hope to give a stiff target to the MI side but things went in the opposite direction. Devine departed after getting run out in the very first over for nought.
In came Ellyse Perry, who tried taking the things in her control but struggled for most of her innings as she could only get 29 after consuming 38 balls. Mandhana, on the other hand, also couldn't do much as left for 24 from 25 balls.
Runs were hard to come by in the middle overs as Heather Knight and Kanika Ahuja only added to the trouble. The score was 78/4 after 14.4 overs, Richa Ghosh, the wicket-keeper batter dominated as she struck two sixes and three fours in her knock of 29 from just 13 balls.
Ghosh's blitz took the side's score to 125 after the end of 20 overs as they lost nine wickets with Amelia Kerr doing most of the damage with figures of 3/22. Nat Sciver and Issy Wong bagged two each to their credit as well.
Yastika and Kerr's decent knocks take MI home
Chasing 126 for victory, Mumbai's openers Hayley Mathews and Yastika Bhatia launched an attack early on to take the score past fifty in the sixth over only. Bhatia was brilliant as she gathered 30 runs with six fours to her name before falling on the final ball of the powerplay to Shreyanka Patil.
Soon, Matthews left as well in a span of 7 balls after piling up 24 runs as the score was 62/2. In came Nat Sciver-Brunt and she couldn't do much after falling for just 13. The score of 126 suddenly started to look too big as skipper Harmanpreet Kaur fell cheaply with the scoreboard showing 73/4.
However, the duo of Amelia Kerr and Pooja Vastrakar joined hands to keep their hopes alive as they took the side to 120 before the latter fell. Issy Wong lost her wicket on the very next delivery but didn't matter as Kerr's calm innings of 31 did the job as they chased the score down in 16.3 overs. Kanika Ahuja scalped two while others chipped in with one wicket apiece.
Brief Score:
Royal Challengers Bangalore: 125/9 (20 Overs)
Richa Ghosh 29 (13), Ellyse Perry 29 (38);
Amelia Kerr 3/22 (4), Nat Sciver-Brunt 2/24 (4)
Mumbai Indians: 129/6 (16.3 Overs)
Amelia Kerr 31* (27), Yastika Bhatia 30 (26);
Kanika Ahuja 2/5 (1), Ellyse Perry 1/18 (2)
Match Result: Mumbai Indians won by 4 wickets
.jpg?im=Resize=(250, 250) "Arnav Chopra")
