WPL 2023: Three cheers for Amelia Kerr!

Tuesdayrsquos game between Mumbai Indians MI and Royal Challengers Bangalore RCB at the DY Patil Stadium was the last opportunity for MI to get a direct entry into the Womenrsquos Premier League WPL finalFor RCB it was the last game to showcase some fighting spirit and impress their supportersMI who had to chase RCBrsquos score of 1259 started off well scoring 53 in the Powerplay Both openersmdashYastika Bhatia 26ball 30 and Hayley Matthews 17ball 24mdashbatted like they wanted to finish the game as early as possible Thereafter through some sensible batting by two allroundersmdashAmelia Kerr 27ball 31 not out and Pooja Vastrakar 18ball 19 MI beat RCB by four wickets with 21 balls to spare Reprieve for MatthewsRCBrsquos second over of the innings bowled by pacer Sophie Devine 017 proved costly as MI earned 17 runs from it But more importantly Matthews was lucky to survive a caughtbehind as Devine bowled a no ballThe DY Patil Stadium in Nerul was the same venue where MI lost to Delhi Capitals on Monday night However that debacle didnrsquot affect their mindset as they bounced back strongly the next dayMI were 531 after the first six overs but lost three quick wickets which included skipper Harmanpreet Kaur 2 They were struggling at 734 in the 10th over But Kerr who earlier showed her class with the ball shouldered responsibility with Vastrakar and earned her team a victory Also readI think we were 4050 runs short surely have to bat well now MI captain Harmanpreet Kaur after defeat against DCFor RCB offspinner Kanika Ahuja who bowled just one over claimed two wickets Earlier after being put into bat RCB lost their inform opener Devine 0 in the first over itself Some misunderstanding between both openersmdashSmriti Mandhana 24 and Devine and a quick and accurate throw into wicketkeeper Bhatiarsquos gloves from backward point fielder Humaira Kazi resulted in Devinersquos run outMandhana looked confident when she danced down the track and dispatched pacer Nat SciverBrunt 224 over the fence Just a couple of balls later she was lucky to see an inside edge missing the stumps and got four for it Mandhana once again failed to capitalise on her start and lost her wicket to legspinner Kerrrsquos 322 googly while attempting a pull shotMIrsquos key bowlerKerr who has claimed 13 wickets in the tournament was at her best on Tuesday Whenever skipper Kaur brought her into attack she didnrsquot disappoint She used the googly perfectly to dismiss Heather Knight 12 and Ahuja 12 For RCB Ellyse Perry and Richa Ghosh scored 29 each New Zealand spinner Kerr almost had her fourth wicket in her final over but Issy Wong 226 dropped Ghosh at longon Brief scoresRCB 1259 in 20 overs R Ghosh 29 E Perry 29 A Kerr 322 NatSciver Brunt 224lost to MI 1296 in 163 overs A Kerr 31 Y Bhatia 30 K Ahuja 25 by four wickets