Mumbai Indians captain Harmanpreet Kaur was visibly displeased after the side endured a narrow defeat to Royal Challengers Bangalore in the 2024 Women’s Premier League eliminator on Friday. The MI had restricted Smriti Mandhana’s team to 135/6 but faltered in the final stages of the run-chase; in the last 12 balls, MI could only score 10 of the required 15 runs as they fell short of five to concede a narrow defeat in Delhi.

Harmanpreet rued the absence of boundaries in the crucial final overs that could have swung the momentum in their favour. Despite the presence of experienced batters like Harmanpreet, Sajana, and Amelia Kerr at the crease, MI failed to register any boundaries and lost three wickets in the last three overs. 

Reflecting on the match, Harmanpreet praised their bowling performance for restricting RCB to a modest total of 135/6 but stated that their batters faltered under pressure in the decisive final two overs, where they needed only 16 runs to win.

“We bowled well, we restricted them to under 140. Batting was also good but in the last 12 balls, we did not bat well. In 12 balls, we needed just one boundary, we were not able to get that. This game always teaches you and puts you under pressure, you need to learn from it. When we lost my wicket, our batters could not hold their nerve, that was the turning point,” Harmanpreet said after the game, as quoted by ANI.

“We fought hard, this season has been up and down for us, last season we did really well but we learnt a lot and hopefully next season we will prepare well and come back hard,” she added.

RCB were largely on the backfoot throughout the match, yet their adeptness at maintaining a controlled run rate emerged as a crucial factor in their triumph. Ultimately, the pressure mounted on MI, resulting in a narrow 5-run victory for RCB. 

RCB to face DC in final

The WPL is set to see a first-time winner this year with RCB setting up a final clash against the Delhi Capitals in the latter’s home stadium. Interestingly, both teams are yet to win an Indian Premier League (IPL) title as well, meaning a maiden franchise title across men’s and women’s leagues will be at stake on March 17.