Amanjot, Kamalini seal thriller for MI after Harmanpreet fifty
Perry's 81 and Wareham's three wickets weren't enough for RCB
Perry's 81 and Wareham's three wickets weren't enough for RCB
Scorer: M Venkat Raghav | Commentator: Shashwat Kumar
11:25pm And...breathe. Another splendid game of cricket that ebbed, flowed and ultimately shifted towards the Mumbai Indians. We hope you enjoyed our coverage as much as we loved bringing it to you. We will be back tomorrow with more action lined up, and until then, this is goodbye from Venkat Raghav and myself. Take care, folks!
Amanjot Kaur, Player of the Match: It feels very good (to win the match for the team). I knew that they might give an over to Kanika and against off-spinners, I have more options. I felt that if I stayed there, we could win the match. When she (Kamalini) came in, I knew I had to make her settle by taking singles and that I had to target the 19th over if we were to win. (On what Harmanpreet said to her after being dismissed) She told me that I could do it easily. I did not do anything different (with the ball). I wanted to bowl stump-to-stump and back my variations. God's plan is always greater than ours.
Harmanpreet Kaur, Mumbai Indians captain: We just wanted to play good cricket. We knew the crowd is going to play a big role, so we wanted to stay together. I thought we did well. We wanted to chase because at this ground, dew will come and batting gets easier when batting second - that is why we wanted them to bat first. Very happy (with the bowlers). They all know their roles, when they are going to bowl - everything went well and happy the way we played today. (Chat to Amanjot) I told her that that was the last over for their main bowler (Wareham) and that bowlers who did not have a lot of experience would bowl (after). She (Amanjot) is a good player but inexperienced, we should give credit to her the way she batted and bowled. Lots of areas to improve. As a team, we will sit together and assess.
Smriti Mandhana, Royal Challengers Bengaluru captain: (Turning point) Can't say one turning point but really proud of the way the girls fought back. Pez (Perry) brought us back in the game. Bowlers put up a good fight, we have two days to think about what went wrong. The first time we have batted first in the tournament. Last two games were brilliant as a batting unit, so won't be critical of things tonight. We got set and did not kind of plan the over well - that is a big takeaway for me and the rest of the batting unit. (On the conditions) I think the ball was coming on pretty well. The outfield in Vadodara was quicker. The wicket played pretty well and had something in it for the spinners. Similar to our batting, they started well in the powerplay. After Hayley got out, we still had a chance. 7-8 overs in the middle were brilliant and that was really positive. In T20 cricket, with 2-3 wickets you are always in the game, and we never thought we were out of the game (even after the start MI got).
Charlotte Edwards, Mumbai Indians head coach: I am pretty happy, to be fair. Just delighted to get over the line against a really good RCB team in front of their crowd - really special. (On Amanjot) Success as a team in this competition is about how well your domestic players play. We know she can do this. What an innings and those sixes at the end were pretty special. (On the loss to the Capitals) We talked a lot about that game and were disappointed. But we stayed positive, we played well against Gujarat. We bat deep and it is on me to get them in the right order. What a superstar she (Kamalini) is going to be. She is a cheeky, little thing but what a job she did tonight. We are taking each game as it comes, we knew bowling first tonight was in our favour but then you have to get the runs, which I thought we did quite calmly, until that last few overs. Chuffed to get the win.
Vishal Pawar: "What a playaaaa, Amanjot. Take a bow!"
11:03pm There are moments in sport where you just run out of words. Where whatever happens, seems too magical to ever be put down in words. And tonight, seeing a 16 year old, who was busy winning India the U-19 World Cup a few weeks ago, rock up in the defending champions' den and winning the Mumbai Indians a game they could have easily lost, falls into that category perfectly.
The Mumbai Indians had this game in their grasp. And then, suddenly, they didn't. RCB, too, seemed to have it under control until the initiative was wrestled away from them. In hindsight, they will probably look at their decision to bowl out Garth and Renuka early, but given how MI were rattling along, that is a gamble that perhaps needed to be taken at that stage, with the appeal of a partnership-breaking wicket outweighing the benefits at the death.
A few ifs and buts there, and it must also be said RCB possibly left a few runs out there. Not the sort of homecoming they would have envisioned but even when defeated, RCB did not throw in the towel, which will be a positive they take away from tonight.
2 off 2
This game is finely poised and you can cut the tension with a knife
Keeper up to the stumps now. She was standing back for the first two balls
Right. 6 off 6. Bisht to bowl the last over. Around the wicket. Surely MI will not botch this from here? Uh-oh, RCB have also been penalized for having a slow over-rate, meaning they now need to have an extra fielder in the ring - everything happening here at the Chinnaswamy!
Perry's 81 and Wareham's three wickets weren't enough for RCB
The Indian players have stepped up for RCB while MI have relied heavily on their overseas players so far