Mumbai Indians batters and bowlers functioned in perfect sync to power their side to a seven-wicket win over Royal Challengers Bangalore in their Women’s Premier League match here on Saturday.
Yastika Bhatia (31 off 15 balls, 4x4, 2x6) and Hayley Matthews (26 off 21 balls, 3x4, 1x6) added 45 runs in an opening stand in just 3.5 overs to give the winners a perfect start.
The subsequent batters exploited the launchpad to register a fine win, reaching the 132-run target with 29 balls to spare to take them to the top of the table with six points.
The Mumbai bowlers were disciplined while restricting RCB to a timid 131 for six.
Bhatia gave a fiery start to the Mumbai chase as she began with a boundary off pacer Renuka Singh in the very first ball and the introduction of Sophie Molineux prompted her to take the aggression to the next level.
The left-hander smashed the left-arm spinner over the deep mid-wicket for a six and then carted her past point for a four.
Earlier, RCB would have been in deeper trouble had Elysse Perry (44 not out off 38 balls, 5x4) and Wareham (27 off 20 balls, 3x4) not added 52 runs for the sixth wicket.
Mumbai were without their regular skipper Harmanpreet Kaur and premier pacer Shabnim Ismail, who have been nursing injuries, for the second match on the trot.
Brief scores: RCB 131/6 in 20 ovs (Elysse Perry 44 not out; Nat Sciver-Brunt 2/27, Pooja Vastrakar 2/14). MI 133/3 in 15.1 ovs (Yastika Bhatia 31, Amelia Kerr 40 not out). MI won by 7 wkts.
