Delhi: Mumbai Indians (MI) Head Coach Charlotte Edwards asserted that they just couldn’t control the last two overs with the bat which cost them not only the match but the second successive final of Women’s Premier League 2024 at Arun Jaitely stadium here on Friday.
Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) successfully defended the 136-run target against the formidable MI side in the eliminator after restricting the opposition to score 16 runs off the last 12 balls. The game went down the wire and Mumbai lost the momentum after losing skipper Harmanpreet Kaur in the back end of the fixture. RCB emerged triumphant by five runs in the end and will now face Delhi Capitals (DC) in the title decider.
Head coach Charlotte Edwards rued her batters’ inability to take the team over the line in the last 12 balls, where they wilted under pressure.
“We’ve seen on this pitch if people stay over there. We would have taken 135 with the short boundary one side. We just didn’t control the last 12 balls that ultimately cost us a final spot," Charlotte said in the post-match press conference.
“It’s bitterly disappointing, it is harder for the players. They will have to relive those moments for a number of years. I am just disappointed because we responded well from the other day. We played well for 38 overs and let ourselves down for 12 balls."
“That is something we will have to go and look at. Credit to RCB, they kept fighting and never gave up. The game is won or lost by small margins. Had Harman hit that six, it would have been our game."
It was the RCB spinners’ Troika of Shreyanka Patil, Asha Shobana, Sophie Molineux and Georgia Wareham, who didn’t let the Mumbai batters score runs quickly. They bowled on very tight lengths and bowled slightly slower, asking MI batters to generate more power to hit out of the park. Shreyanka picked up two wickets while others picked one each. Ellyse Perry was the lone pacer for RCB who picked up a wicket. She removed Yastika Bhatia on 19 off 27 balls.
Much before the equation became 16 off 12 balls, it was at a comfortable 20 off 18 balls. Captain Harmanpreet Kaur had survived a stumping chance when Richa Ghosh couldn’t collect the ball cleanly off Shreyanka Patil.
However, skipper Harmanpreet came dancing down the track, eyeing to hit one over long on for a six, but found the fielder at long on and lost her wicket on the last delivery of the 18th over. And after that Mumbai couldn’t complete the chase of 136.
Charlotte believed Harmanpreet’s wicket was the turning point of the match for the defending champions.
“You could see the lift it gave RCB. We equally backed Harman to take that shot. Had it gone for a six, it would have been 12 off the last two overs and we would have been in the driver’s seat. I thought it went for six when she hit it. It is small margins and I think we could pick at a lot of situations that happened in that game, but we were in control and we let it slip,” she mentioned.
“At that point, that’s her shot, that’s her strength. With 16 needed off 12 balls, we should have still won that game. It is not down to that, but it is a pivotal moment in the game,” she elaborated.
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