TACTICAL PREVIEW
Follow UsIt wasn’t long back when Royal Challengers Bangalore were sitting at the top of the table. Two consecutive wins to begin the campaign put them on the summit, blurring the memories of a horror first season where it took them six matches to win their first game.
However, RCB have now lost two in a row. They lost to Delhi by 25 runs and to Mumbai by seven wickets in two pretty one-sided games. They are back at number four where they finished last season and missed the playoffs.
Such is the nature of this tournament. Every game is important. With matches coming thick and fast and only five teams in the competition, you must keep the momentum going.
UP Warriorz, probably, have that momentum. On contrary to RCB, UPW started the season the season with two defeats but have picked up to win two on the bounce.
Thus, both RCB and UPW have the same number of points but UPW, thanks to Grace Harris, have a far superior net run-rate (0.211 as compared to RCB’s -0.015).
Considering Delhi and Mumbai are in superb form and only three playoff spots are available, Match 11 can help the winning side to segregate themselves from the lower half of the table.
(All stats until Match 9)
Things to watch out for
UPW spinners vs RCB batters
UPW, in their previous game, subverted Gujarat with 19 overs of spin. Overall, in this tournament, Alyssa Healy’s team has bowled 60.3 overs of spin, the most by any team by a distance.
UPW have the top two ranked WT20I bowlers in their ranks, both spinners - Sophie Ecclestone and Deepti Sharma. Consequently, their spin bowling economy of 7.2 is the best in the season. But they have not picked as many wickets, averaging 27.4 runs per wicket. Their poor fielding has also marred this number.
UPW’s spin bowling numbers are in direct sync with RCB’s performance this season. RCB have the second-lowest run-rate batting against spin (7.4) but possess the second-highest batting average (26).
Simply put, UPW spinners don’t concede runs but don’t strike as often as well, much like RCB don’t score against spin but also don’t lose many wickets. Healy bombarded Gujarat with spinners and might do it again versus RCB. Whichever team improves on the metric they lack can break the game in their favor.
RCB need to stop Grace Harris
Grace Harris has the most runs this season, alongside the best strike rate (minimum 50 runs) and the second-best average (76.5). UPW have assigned her the most impact-driven role at number four given Harris possesses the power to clear the outfield during the middle overs. As a result, Harris has the most runs in the middle overs this season, having belted 120 runs off only 69 balls in this phase of play with a solitary dismissal.
Against spin, Harris has scored 80 off 47 balls in this season. RCB have the worst economy with their spinners, going at 8.5 runs per over. Hence, it is a match-up that Harris would like to exploit in her favor.
She has the momentum, smashing 98 runs off 50 balls in her last two WPL games, both comfortably won by UPW. Smriti Mandhana and Co. will need to find a way to stop the Harris juggernaut.
Ground Details
The M. Chinnaswamy Stadium has hosted nine games so far, and seven have been won by the team that is batting second.
We have witnessed four 150-plus totals in the first innings and four totals around 130 or less. Hence, the scores have fluctuate based on the pitch being used. Another factor has been the early wickets. If you don’t lose wickets upfront in the first innings, you can score big.
The spinners here have picked up more wickets (30 wickets as compared to 25 by pacers) but have also conceded runs at a higher rate. They take a wicket every 21.4 deliveries at the expense of 7.4 runs per over. Meanwhile, the corresponding numbers for fast bowlers are 17.5 and 6.7, respectively.
Tactical Insights
> Sophie Devine has bowled only 10 overs in four matches but can greatly help in this fixture. In Women T20s, the medium pacer has dismissed Grace Harris thrice and Alyssa Healy a staggering seven times.
> Richa Ghosh has scored only 15 runs off 16 deliveries against orthodox left-arm spinners in this season WPL. Overall, Ghosh has struggled against Sophie Ecclestone, scoring only 42 runs off 45 balls against the UPW’s premier left-arm spinner and has been out five times. With Rajeshwari Gayakwad in the side alongside Ecclestone, UPW can reserve a lot of left-arm spin for RCB’s middle-order batter.
Probable XIs
Royal Challengers Bangalore
Despite a crushing loss against Mumbai, no obvious change can be anticipated in the RCB camp.
Smriti Mandhana ( c ), Sophie Devine, Sabbhineni Meghana, Ellyse Perry, Richa Ghosh (wk), Georgia Wareham, Sophie Molineux, Shreyanka Patil, Simran Bahadur, Asha Sobhana, Renuka Thakur Singh
UP Warriorz
Placed third on the points table, UPW are expected to field the same XI as their previous game. That means their star all-rounder, Tahlia McGrath, can warm the bench again.
Alyssa Healy (c & wk), Kiran Navgire, Chamari Athapaththu, Grace Harris, Shweta Sehrawat, Deepti Sharma, Poonam Khemnar, Sophie Ecclestone, Rajeshwari Gayakwad, Saima Thakor, Anjali Sarvani
