The Women’s Premier League (WPL) has begun with a bang, with the primary two video games being determined off the ultimate supply. UP Warriorz got here tantalisingly shut however succumbed to a heroic spell from Asha Sobhana, who claimed 5 wickets to safe a shocking victory for Royal Challengers Bangalore on Saturday.
Warriorz appeared to be in management, needing 32 runs off 24 deliveries with seven wickets in hand at one level. However, Smriti Mandhana’s choice to introduce Asha proved pivotal, because the 32-year-old snatched three wickets in an over, shifting the momentum.
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“The strategic time-out, when it was taken while both Shweta [Sehrawat] and Grace Harris were flying and the stop in the play allowed RCB to get back into the game and then losing those three wickets in that over. It makes a huge difference, especially considering the dismissal of Shweta and Grace, our two set batters, was the turning point,” remarked Warriorz mentor Lisa Sthalekar after the match.
Two Indian kids, Shweta Sehrawat and debutant Vrinda Dinesh, made notable contributions regardless of the workforce’s unsuccessful chase. While Sehrawat maintained a excessive tempo throughout her partnership with Grace Harris, Vrinda showcased glorious fielding expertise.
“I was particularly impressed with our fielding efforts. Last year, we leaked too many runs, whereas in our first game, our fielders were sharp and switched on,” Sthalekar acknowledged.
“It marks a significant improvement from the Indian domestic players. It has allowed franchises, including ours, to involve these players in camps and continuously challenge and nurture them. The crucial aspect was that these players got exposure to the top level in the inaugural season of WPL, enabling them to benchmark their performances. Not just with our team, but I’ve observed that every player has gone up a notch,” she added.
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Highlighting positives from the match, Sthalekar mentioned, “For Vrinda, it was her first game playing in front of a home crowd. She might have felt nervous, but she still had that mindset to execute shots like the ramps. There are many positives that we’ll take from tonight’s game.”
Sthalekar had mentioned that UPW’s mantra can be spin to win, and Asha’s efficiency, regardless that it got here in opposition to her workforce, strengthened the significance of spinners on this state of affairs.
“It turned much more in the second innings. The dew did not come in, and it was the used pitch from the previous night, so their spinners were able to extract a little more side spin. When the ball begins to move around, it becomes difficult to control and hard to score off. The spin has worked, and as a former spinner, I was delighted to see them dominate,” she acknowledged.
Poonam Khemnar, one other debutant, impressed. After three fast wickets within the seventeenth over, Poonam hit three boundaries off Shreyanka Patil and Georgia Wareham, nearly taking Warriorz residence.
“She played to her strengths, and that’s what we’ve been telling the players to do: back up their skill sets. Just follow through on your preparations. But sometimes you have to fail before you succeed, so there will undoubtedly be a few players who have learned some lessons along the way, and I look forward to seeing them adjust and tinker slightly to ensure that they make the right decisions the next time they find themselves in a similar situation,” she concluded.
Source web site: sportstar.thehindu.com
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