Royal Challengers Bangalore won the crucial toss against Mumbai Indians and elected to bat first in the Women's Premier League 2024 eliminator clash on Friday. Mumbai Indians recalled their star opener Yastika Bhatia to their playing eleven in the only change.
Smriti Mandhana won the toss as RCB fielded the same playing eleven that thrashed Mumbai Indians by seven wickets in their last game. Despite teams struggling to post big totals batting first in recent games at New Delhi's Arun Jaitley Stadium, Smriti decided to bat first and said that the wicket would remain low in the second innings.
"We would like to bat first today," Smriti said after winning the toss. "It's an Eliminator, runs on board definitely count. Three matches have been played on this wicket, it'll start keeping low hopefully in the second innings. We are unchanged today. Throughout the tournament, a lot of ups and downs. It's important to be in the present, that's how cricket is. We'll take a lot of positives from the last match but it's important today to come out and play good cricket, we are prepared well."
Mumbai captain Harmanpreet Kaur also revealed that her team wanted to bat first in the eliminator clash and confirmed Yastika's return to their playing XI.
"We were very confused, we were looking to bat first as well," Harmanpreet said. "Yastika is back today for Bala. Last time when we batted first, we had a nice powerplay. We didn't continue after that. We have learnt a lot. Even the bowling was good in patches. Today is a new day, hopefully we do whatever we are expecting to do. Staying in the moment is very important. Today's game is important and we want to give our 100%."
Mumbai Indians Playing XI: Hayley Matthews, Yastika Bhatia (wk), Nat Sciver-Brunt, Harmanpreet Kaur (c), Amelia Kerr, Amanjot Kaur, Pooja Vastrakar, S Sajana, Humaira Kazi, Shabnim Ismail, Saika Ishaque.
Royal Challengers Bangalore Playing XI: Smriti Mandhana (c), Sophie Molineux, Ellyse Perry, Sophie Devine, Richa Ghosh (wk), Georgia Wareham, Disha Kasat, Shreyanka Patil, Asha Sobhana, Shraddha Pokharkar, Renuka Thakur Singh.
