9:10pm Well, it took a while for that innings to officially come to a conclusion. But no prizes for guessing who will be the happier side at this stage. UPW got off to a solid start, courtesy Lanning and Deepti, but the former’s dismissal triggered a slow-down that UPW just could not recover from. Deepti got herself a half-century but never threatened the sort of overdrive that would have pushed UPW past 150.
RCB will be pleased with their efforts. They failed to take a wicket in the powerplay for the first time this season but utilized their middle-overs smarts to tie UPW down. de Klerk was the star of the show, with Bell and Harris also chipping in, alongside Radha and Shreyanka. Stranger things have happened in this sport but at the half-way mark, RCB will be pretty confident of sealing their berth in the final.
Adil: “An Innings that threatened to take off but never did. Kinda like the whole UPW campaign tbh.”
Nadine de Klerk, now also the Purple Cap holder: (How she feels) Always nice to contribute. They got off to a flier. To get a couple of wickets (to slow them down), felt nice. We will definitely take this score (after their start). The planning has been pretty good. Knew they (Jones and Lanning) were susceptible to the ball coming in. Got a bit lucky with Meg’s wicket, but that is how cricket works sometimes. (On her plans at the death) Really sticking to my strengths. The short side is really short. Planning has been good. Trying to protect that short boundary (by bowling slow and wide) and bowling at the stumps (with the bigger boundary).
de Klerk to Pandey, no run, back of a length just outside off. Pandey shuffles across and then misses her lap. Impact on the pad but that impact is a mile outside off. But RCB, in keeping with their DRS shenanigans, go upstairs again. And there will be an umpire review for a stumping too, apparently. No chance of Pandey being trapped lbw and the replays say as much. There was a slight moment when Pandey did not know where the ball had gone and had wandered out, but she regained her ground before Ghosh took off the bails. UPW finish on 143!
