WPL 2024: Dominant Asha Leads RCB to Victory Over UP Warriorz Despite Harris’ Challenge
WPL 2024: In a nail-biting encounter, Royal Challengers Bangalore triumphed over UP Warriorz, thanks to Sobhana Asha’s outstanding five-wicket performance.
The game showcased intense moments, including Grace Harris’s aggressive batting and Richa Ghosh’s explosive innings. Let’s delve into the thrilling highlights of this WPL 2024 clash.
UP Warriorz 155 for 7 (Harris 38, Sehrawat 31, Asha 5-22) lost to Royal Challengers Bangalore 157 for 6 (Ghosh 62, Meghana 53, Gayakwad 2-24) by two runs. WPL 2024
UP Warriorz eventually lost by two after needing 32 from 24 balls at one point and then 11 from nine.
On the first night of the WPL 2024, five balls were required, and on the second, it remained the same. In front of a raucous home crowd at M Chinnaswamy Stadium, Royal Challengers Bangalore successfully launched their campaign as the Delhi Capitals were unable to stop them.
Once more, an unsung heralded Indian player stole the show: Sobhana Asha’s five-wicket haul helped RCB defend a score for the first time, derailing UP Warriorz’s 158-run chase. Despite four efforts in the first season, they had never succeeded in doing so.
Grace Harris, who scored 38 runs off of 23 balls, gave Warriorz a chance to win, but Asha’s spell saw them fall short by two runs.
ASHA MANIAC
Asha means “hope,” and she uses ashathehopejoy as her Twitter account. She twice altered the course of events and was a symbol of enthusiasm and hope in Bengaluru. Following Alyssa Healy’s dismissal by Sophie Molineux with a peach, Vrinda Dinesh and Tahlia McGrath scored 38 runs off of 41 balls. Asha had Vrinda stumped for 18 off 28 when the two attempted to break loose. She castled McGrath after a few balls as he attempted to sweep a ball that was too full.
The chase was restarted by Harris and Shweta Sehrawat, who added 77 in just 46 balls. When Smriti Mandhana needed 32 runs in four overs, she went back to Asha. She completed her five-for, sending the opposition camp into disarray, with a triple-wicket over that saw the dismissal of Sehrawat, Harris, and Kiran Navgire.
Sehrawat is returning after a fruitful domestic season in which she struck at 122.45 to lead Delhi in runs scored in the Senior Women’s T20 Trophy. When she joined Harris in the middle of the ninth over, Warriorz were 49 for 3. Harris managed to keep the scoreboard moving while Sehrawat took her time on a used pitch.
In the tenth over, Harris struck legspinner Georgia Wareham for two consecutive fours before hitting Asha for a six the following over. She was able to consistently locate the border prior to Ellyse Perry being attacked by Sehrawat. She slapped one ball through cover-point and then despatched a ball that was back of a length over deep midwicket a few of balls later. After that, Harris ended the fifteenth over by hitting Molineux into the deep-midwicket stands. After all that, Warriorz managed to score 30 runs in just two overs.
MEGHANA STABLES RCB
When Mandhana struck a six and a four off consecutive balls in the second over after the RCB was sent in, the volume skyrocketed. However, Sophie Devine was quickly dismissed for 1 by Grace Harris, who started the bowling.
S Meghana took over after that. From the moment she walked in, it was obvious that she intended to take the aerial path with the field up. In the fifth over, she hit Harris three times for four runs when she figured out her timing. She was also lucky because, with Meghana on sixteen, Sehrawat attempted a diving grab at deep midwicket but failed, and in the seventh over, with the batter on twenty-two, McGrath hit a brilliant blow.
Meghana’s footwork demonstrated why she is so well-liked, particularly when she faced Rajeshwari Gayakwad’s left-arm spin. After reaching her only six against Gayakwad, a loft over extra cover, she finished with a half-century off 40 balls. However, she handed the ball to Gayakwad in the 17th over and was out of luck.
RICHA GHOSH STEADIES THE SHOW
The Royals could not stop Richa Ghosh, even though they lost their third wicket in the ninth over. Her initial fours were more touch than power as she controlled her aggressiveness and concentrated on spinning the attack. She gradually reached a run-a-ball 16 before being assisted to loosen up by WPL rookie Saima Thakor’s second over.
In the fourteenth over, Ghosh hammered the seamer for four fours, sending the ball to the following locations on the ground: square leg, long-on, deep midwicket, over mid-off, and backward point. She reached a half-century in 31 balls with five fours in two overs bowled by McGrath a little while later.
Even yet, Warriorz only conceded 32 runs in the final four overs, and RCB may have finished well short of 150 if not for Ghosh’s brilliant innings.
