In a must-win encounter against the UP Warriorz, RCB won the toss and decided to bat first. Skipper Mandhana’s struggles against spin continued, and she was again dismissed for a low score to the left-arm spinner. S Devine continued to score freely until Sophie Ecclestone cramped her for the room, knocking her off stump back. Devine missed it completely, trying to play the cut shot to a ball too close to cut. Coming in at 3, Ellyse Perry registered her maiden half-century (52 off 39) in the WPL for RCB. She hardly found any support, as the wickets continued to fall at regular intervals from the other end.
The two spinners, Deepti Sharma and Sophie Ecclestone triggered a collapse as they spun a complete web over the batting unit of RCB, combining with the figures of 7-39 in 7.3 overs for the UP Warriorz. RCB lost their last nine wickets for just 66 runs. Chasing a target of 139, Alyssa Healy found a new opening partner in Devika Vaidya. The new combination worked wonders for them, as they saw the chase through for the Warriorz with seven overs to spare. They hardly looked in any trouble throughout the chase, as they both remained unbeaten.
Alyssa Healy’s Wagon Wheel Numbers
It was so good to see Alyssa Healy in full flow, getting the much-needed runs under her belt. The UP Warriorz skipper finding her form will do a world of good for the confidence of the whole batting unit going forward in the tournament. Now let’s get deeper into the wagon wheel. As we can see, the majority of her runs (52 runs) have come from the offside, especially through the third man region, through her deft touches, guiding them with soft hands, displaying another version of her game. The deep cover was another region where she scored heavily on the offside. She targeted the deep mid-wicket region on a number of occasions on the leg side. She also scored a decent amount of runs in the “V” straight down the ground, towards the long on, long off region.
Boundaries Contact Point Against Spin
Now, let’s try and understand how she tackled the spinners on her way to a defining knock, filled with absolute class and elegance. Her approach against spin was quite clear: she tried to get closer to the pitch of the ball while not allowing the ball to spin. She also came down the track on numerous occasions, around the 2.5- to 3-meter area, almost shaking hands with the bowler. She only scored a couple of boundaries, staying right back at her crease. Most of the time, she had her dancing shoes on against the spinners last night.
Conclusion
All is well for the UP Warriorz, as slowly but steadily everything is falling into place for them. The opening pair now looks sorted, with Devika Vaidya stepping in with a solid performance up at the top. They are getting closer and closer to finding their best 11. As far as the RCB is concerned, having lost four on the trot with a massive impact on NRR, it is almost on the verge of elimination. They need to come out with a nothing to lose attitude in the next game and try to get the wins under their belts, and then hope for some other results to go their way, in order to stand a chance of finding a place in the knockouts.
