Lucknow, Mar 7: Staring at elimination, UP Warriorz will hope for a stronger middle-order performance as they aim to derail Royal Challengers Bangalore’s campaign and conclude their Women’s Premier League season on a high when they face off here on Saturday.
It has been a tale of missed opportunities for UP Warriorz.
Apart from a few individual flashes of brilliance, they have failed to fire collectively.
With just four points from seven matches, UPW are languishing at the bottom of the table and are only mathematically in contention.
Defending champions RCB have also endured a tough season, with four points from six games and are coming on the back of four defeats on the trot.
However, they have a game in hand over UP Warriorz, keeping their playoff hopes alive as Smriti Mandhana and Co will need to put their best foot forward.
The heartbreak of their Super Over loss in their last encounter will be still fresh in their minds, and they will be keen to settle the scores.
UP Warriorz batting order has been far from settled with frequent changes, especially at the top in the last three games.
They have experimented with at least one overseas batter as an opener, but the strategy has yielded little success.
While India’s Kiran Navgire has been a constant in the top-three with mixed results, Grace Harris had an impactful innings, and Georgia Voll produced a sensational knock against Mumbai Indians in their last match.
However, in their pursuit of a strong start, UP Warriorz’s middle order has misfired as the team has struggled to post competitive totals or chase effectively.
“We are making back-to-back mistakes in the middle order. Our top and lower orders are doing well, but we need to focus on the middle order,” said Deepti Sharma, UP Warriorz captain, after the match.
“We had a lot of expectations from the middle-order batters, and we hope for the best in the last game,”
UP Warriorz will take heart from the fact that their highest score of 180 came against RCB.
Although the match was tied, UP Warriorz won in the Super Over, which will keep their confidence high.
RCB, on the other hand, began the season with back-to-back wins in Vadodara but have since lost their way.
They had a dismal run at the home stretch where they failed to win a single game.
RCB skipper Mandhana will hope that a change of venue will bring a change in fortunes.
Placed fourth in the table, RCB’s batting frailties were exposed in their last two matches, with Mandhana’s form being a major concern.
While she scored 81 against Delhi Capitals, Mandhana has struggled against spin.
It’s not just Mandhana — most of the other batters, except Ellyse Perry, have been inconsistent.
England’s Danni Wyatt-Hodge has been as unreliable as Mandhana, having scored 137 runs so far with just one half-century.
Perry has been the standout performer, amassing 295 runs, including four fifties, to emerge as their top player.
Her 60 in the last match was the highlight of their batting against DC.
RCB’s bowling unit has been equally inconsistent.
They used seven bowlers without much success in their last game.
Pacer Renuka Singh Thakur tops the wicket-taking list for RCB with 10 scalps in the tournament so far, while spinner Georgia Wareham has taken nine.
However, both have lacked consistency in line and length.
Other spinners, Ekta Bisht and Kanika Ahuja, have also struggled to control the game in the middle overs.
Teams (from):
Royal Challengers Bengaluru: Smriti Mandhana (c), Kanika Ahuja, Ekta Bisht, Charlie Dean, Kim Garth, Richa Ghosh (wk), Heather Graham, VJ Joshitha, Sabbhineni Meghana, Nuzhat Parween, Jagravi Pawar, Ellyse Perry, Raghvi Bist, Sneh Rana, Prema Rawat, Renuka Singh, Georgia Wareham and Danni Wyatt-Hodge.
UP Warriorz: Deepti Sharma (c), Anjali Sarvani, Chamari Athapaththu, Uma Chetry (wk), Sophie Ecclestone, Rajeshwari Gayakwad, Arushi Goel, Kranti Goud, Grace Harris, Chinelle Henry, Poonam Khemnar, Alana King, Tahlia McGrath, Kiran Navgire, Shweta Sehrawat, Gouher Sultana, Saima Thakor and Vrinda Dinesh. (PTI)
