‘Kohli’s legacy followed by Mandhana’: RCB’s twin loss in WPL trigger meme fest

Harmanpreet Kaur’s Mumbai Indians extended their winning run on Monday as the Women In Blue romped past Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) in the action-packed Women’s Premier League (WPL) 2023 at the Brabourne Stadium.

Hayley Matthews’ blistering knock paved the way for Mumbai Indians to seal a comfortable win over Smriti Mandhana and Co. in match No.4 of the T20 tournament.

Matthews, who delivered the goods with the ball, also ended up top-scoring for Harmanpreet and Co. in the one-sided contest at Mumbai. With RCB registering their second-straight defeat of the elite tournament, fans and followers of the game were quick to spark a hilarious meme fest on Twitter.

Batting first in their second fixture of the WPL 2023, Mandhana and Co. folded for 155 in 18.4 overs. Skipper Mandhana scored 23 off 17 balls while superstar Ellyse Perry perished for 13 off 7 balls. Crucial cameos from Richa Ghosh (28), Kanika Ahuja (22), Shreyanka Patil (23) and Megan Schutt (20) lifted RCB to a challenging total of 155 in the 20-over contest.

After emerging as the pick of the bowlers for Mumbai Indians, all-rounder Matthews tormented the RCB bowling attack and smashed a quick-fire half-century to make a mockery of the run-chase at the Brabourne Stadium. The West Indies opener played an unbeaten knock of 77 to help Mumbai Indians thrash RCB by 9 wickets. Matthews was named the Player of the Match for her all-round show against Bangalore.

“We could have learnt to put down a better score. We have to accept this defeat and come back better. 2-3 batters got into 20s but could not make it count including myself. We do have a good bowling side, we have 6-7 bowling options and we can’t say much to the bowlers when the batters are not putting up the runs. It is a pretty short tournament and we can’t dwell on it, even in franchise cricket if you start winning then you can go on a run. Lots of positives in the form of Kanika and Shriyanka’s batting after the top order collapse, really happy with the way they batted,” RCB skipper Mandhana said after the match.

RCB are placed third on the IPL 2023 points table after Mandhana and Co. extended their winless run to two games. Royal Challengers Bangalore will be eager to return to winning ways when they meet Gujarat Giants in match No.6 of the WPL 2023. RCB will lock horns with the Gujarat-based franchise at the Brabourne Stadium in Mumbai on Wednesday.