WPL 2024-25: UP Warriorz Stun Royal Challengers Bengaluru in Thrilling Super Over Finish

Image credits: BCCI

The Women's Premier League (WPL) 2024-25 witnessed its first-ever Super Over finish, with UP Warriorz emerging victorious against Royal Challengers Bengaluru. The match, which was played at the M Chinnaswamy Stadium, saw Sophie Ecclestone play a starring role for UP Warriorz, scoring 33 off 19 balls and then conceding just four runs in the Super Over to seal the win for her team. Ellyse Perry's unbeaten 90 for Royal Challengers Bengaluru went in vain, as her team suffered their second successive loss at home.

The match began with Royal Challengers Bengaluru openers Smriti Mandhana and Danielle Wyatt-Hodge being cautious at the start of the innings. However, Wyatt-Hodge soon smashed a waist-high full toss from Grace Harris over the ropes, setting the tone for the rest of the innings. Mandhana, on the other hand, was once again found wanting against off spin, being castled by Deepti Sharma for the 11th time across all editions of the WPL. The in-form Ellyse Perry then took the attack to Ecclestone, clinching two boundaries in her first over, and followed it up with a six off Saima Thakor.

Despite a strong bowling performance by UP Warriorz in the first ten overs, restricting Royal Challengers Bengaluru to 67 for 1, the hosts managed to up the ante in the later stages of the innings. Wyatt-Hodge followed Perry in reaching 50, with a massive six off Ecclestone, but departed soon after, slashing straight to backward-point. Richa Ghosh powered two fours before being caught off her own bowling by Chinelle Henry, and Kanika Ahuja was run-out by Uma Chetry. However, Perry continued to up the tempo, smashing Deepti for 16 runs in an over, and taking apart Tahlia McGrath in the previous over. Ecclestone then bowled a wonderful final over, conceding just 6 runs, as Royal Challengers Bengaluru finished on 180 for 6.

The UP Warriorz innings commenced with the Kiran Navgire show, as she started with two boundaries in the 'V' off Renuka Singh Thakur. However, her innings was cut short, being castled by a booming in-swinger from Renuka. Deepti continued to take the attack to Kim Garth, in another expensive over, but young Vrinda Dinesh's struggles in the WPL continued, being caught at cover. McGrath was nipped by Sneh Rana for a duck, and Deepti went after Rana, nailing her sweeps for two fours and a six, before gloving one to the 'keeper. The match seemed to be dead and buried, with RCB landing another major blow with the wicket of Henry, but Ecclestone had other ideas, signalling her intent with two consecutive sixes off Georgia Wareham.

The scores were tied at the end of the 20 overs, with UP Warriorz scoring 180 runs, and the match went into the Super Over. Kim Garth bowled an excellent over to restrict UP Warriorz to 8 runs, but even that was enough for Ecclestone, who only conceded four runs to seal UP Warriorz's second win of the season. The brief scores of the match are as follows:

• Royal Challengers Bengaluru 180/6 in 20 overs (Ellyse Perry 90*, Danielle Wyatt-Hodge 57; Tahlia McGrath 1-30, Chinelle Henry 1-34)
• UP Warriorz 180 in 20 overs (Sophie Ecclestone 33, Shweta Sehrawat 31; Sneh Rana 3-27, Renuka Singh Thakur 2-36)
• Super over: UP Warriorz 8/1 (Chinelle Henry 4, Sophie Ecclestone 1*) beat Royal Challengers Bengaluru 4/0 (Richa Ghosh 2*, Smriti Mandhana 2*) by 4 runs