Harmanpreet Kaur and Smriti Mandhana, two of India’s most well-known players, will compete in Match 4 of the 2023 Women’s Premier League (WPL) on March 6. This game will be held at Mumbai’s Brabourne Stadium.
MI and RCB have had divergent competition starts thus far. With a net run rate close to the moon, Mumbai leads the table, but Bangalore has not yet opened their account. The former will want to maintain their momentum, while the latter will be looking for their first tournament victory.
In the opening match of WPL 2023, MI dominated the Gujarat Giants (GG). Hayley Matthews, Amelia Kerr, Nat Sciver-Brunt, and Saika Ishaque made significant contributions to support Harmanpreet as she led from the front with a fiery knock. Mumbai appears to be the early favorite to win the tournament.
On the other hand, RCB was defeated by the Delhi Capitals (DC) by a substantial 60 runs on Sunday. As a result of Bangalore’s poor bowling, no batter reached the 50-run mark, and only one bowler, the part-timer Heather Knight, took a wicket.
Can MI extend their winning streak? Or on the other hand, will RCB rapidly find its heading and completely expose the opposition?
RCB is likely to make changes in their team
Although RCB has only played one game in WPL 2023, it may already be time for them to do so. They won’t have much time to experiment with their ideal lineup because they will only play eight games in the league phase of the competition.
Bangalore could benefit from Dane van Niekerk’s potent leg spin and useful middle-order runs by bringing him in. In her two overs against DC, Asha Shobana gave up 29 runs, and Preeti Bose, Megan Schutt, and Renuka Singh Thakur also lost wickets.
As RCB struggled to pick up wickets throughout the innings, Ellyse Perry and Sophie Devine also failed to roll their arms. In addition to Van Niekerk, Mandhana and co. may also need to sign left-arm pacer Komal Zanzad and all-rounder Shreyanka Patil.
MI, in the meantime, is brilliantly ready. In both departments, Sciver-Brunt, Matthews, and Kerr are worth their weight in gold. Pooja Vastrakar and Issy Wong have given the lower order and the pace more bite.
On Monday, the focus will be on Yastika Bhatia, whose game isn’t particularly suited to the T20 format. Since the field restrictions are in place, the left-hander has had trouble finding the boundary, so RCB might want to put some early pressure on him. They will also need to come up with specific strategies to fight the middle order, which appears to be deadly.
Overall, MI are the clear favorites to win on Monday, even though RCB might score their first points of the tournament. Harmanpreet ought to be able to surpass her Indian counterpart.
Prediction: RCB will prevail in WPL 2023 Match 4.