By Chanakya Ch
24 February was a night that was filled with drama and a lot of thrillers. Sophie Ecclestone stole the limelight as UP Warriorz defeated Royal Challengers Bengaluru in the first ever super over, in the history of Women’s Indian Premier League on Monday at the Chinnaswamy stadium in Bengaluru. It was a game that was RCB’s way up until the 18 overs. However, Sophie Ecclestone’s massive performance in the last over was pushed to a thrilling super over.
UP Warriorz won the toss and chose to bowl first. RCB lost the captain, Smriti Mandhana in the initial overs of the match. Her wicket was taken by Deepti Sharma in the fourth over. Ellyse Perry became the star performer for her team, RCB. She scored a massive 90* ( 58 ) in which she hit 9 fours and 3 sixes. Wyatt-Hedge made a decent contribution by scoring 57 ( 41 ). They had a great partnership of 94 runs. RCB has scored 180/8 runs in 20 overs. UP warriorz seemed done with the bat very soon. They needed 41 runs in 18 balls with two wickets in hand. But Sophie showed her absolute blinder that pushed the game to a super over. Sophie, decided to take up bowling in the super over, She has managed to defend a score of 8 runs.
It is surely a performance that will be remembered for a long time. To pull up a heist is one thing, but she has absolutely managed to pull off a couple of them in a matter of minutes to shock the crowd. Ecclestone has shown her absolute bowling skills by giving 29 runs and taking 4 wickets. Richa Gosh and Smrithi Mandana had the task of chasing down a nine-run mark but the English cricketer prevailed, as she gave up only four runs. It was a performance that showed the mindset of the No.1 T20 and ODI Women bowler in the world, who has shown her skill by conceding just 6 runs off the final over of the RCB’s innings.
Royal Challengers Bengaluru have played a total of four games out of 8 games. While they successfully defeated Gujarat Giants by 6 wickets and Delhi Capitals by 8 wickets, they had an unfortunate outing in their last two games against Mumbai Indians and UP Warriorz.
RCB were the champions of the first Women Premier League and will now look to mould their ways for the upcoming matches.