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Mumbai Indians Nat-Sciver Brunt became the first centurion in WPL history during the match against Royal Challengers Bengaluru. (PHOTO: CREIMAS FOR WPL)
Sciver-Brunt scores WPL’s first-ever century to lead MI to win over table-toppers RCB and boost their playoff hopes.
A monster middle overs partnership — one that saw the Women’s Premier League’s first-ever century come from the bat of England skipper Nat Sciver-Brunt — followed by table toppers Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) losing their top-order for 40 runs, allowed Mumbai Indians to pump life into their playoff hopes on Monday in Vadodara.
Nat stabilises, then smashes
When MI skipper Harmanpreet Kaur said at the toss she would have fielded if she won, the thought tracked with the Vadodara pitch that has seen the ball coming on to the bat slowly. That thought may have gained further weight when Mumbai struggled to get out of the blocks – a persistent issue this season – and produced only 38 from the powerplay overs.
Royal Challengers Bengaluru batter Richa Ghosh struck a 50-ball 90 but it wasn’t enough. (PHOTO: CREIMAS FOR WPL)
But Sciver-Brunt first held the fort with Hayley Matthews after Lauren Bell foxed Sajeevan Sajana with a delivery that stayed straight and rapped her on the pad. And once they had steadied the innings at 75/1 after ten overs, they went hunting for boundaries. Bell was the only bowler who had an economy rate under 10, as Brunt and Matthews picked everyone apart.
AS IT HAPPENED| Royal Challengers Bengaluru vs Mumbai Indians, WPL 2026 Match No. 16
Sciver-Brunt’s international strike rate stays a shade under 120, her WPL SR bumps up to just over 144. Against RCB, she hit 100 off 57 balls, accelerating in the middle overs with no real questions posed. The partnership (131 from 73 balls) came to an end when captain Mandhana brought Bell into the attack, who took Matthews (56 from 39 balls) out of the equation. But then a 12-ball-20-run cameo from Harmanpreet followed. MI, who had lost their last three games, found the partnerships they were missing and posted an above par target of 200 with Sciver-Brunt remaining unbeaten with a historic century – her first-ever in the T20 format.
Top half disorder
Any hopes of Bengaluru living up to the form they have shown through most of the season fizzled out within the powerplay as Matthews, who had excelled with the bat, took out Smriti Mandhana, Georgia Voll and Radha Yadav in a clutch two-over spell. On the other end, Shabnil Ismail took the all-important wicket of RCB’s power-hitter Grace Smith, who gave away the faintest of edges at the end of a nine-ball stay and then picked up RCB’s latest find Gautami Naik. Five wickets and forty runs – Ismail and Matthews wrecked Bengaluru’s batting lineup.
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For a brief moment there was hope that Nadine de Klerk and Richa Ghosh – so impactful for South Africa and India at the World Cup – would possibly steady the ship. But Amelia Kerr removed de Klerk from the mix and despite Ghosh and Shreyanka Patil smashing 27 from the penultimate over, the task of 32 from the final six balls was a bit too much for the duo to salvage.
Brief scores: Mumbai Indians 199/4 (Nat Sciver-Brunt 100, Hayley Matthews 56; Lauren Bell 2/21) defeated Royal Challengers Bengaluru 184/9 in 20 overs (Richa Ghosh 90; Hayley Matthews 3/10, Shabnim Ismail 2/25) by 15 runs.
English (US) ·