RCB needed 18 off the final over with three wickets left, but de Klerk pulled off another heist against a Harmanpreet Kaur-led team
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Scorer: Chandan Duorah | Commentator: Shashwat Kumar
11:36pm And...breathe. Another rip-roaring start to another season of the WPL, and if this contest is any indicator, we are in for lots of fun over the next month. We hope you enjoyed our coverage just as much as we liked bringing it to you. Until next time (which is tomorrow, by the way, which is also a double-header), it is me (Shashwat), signing off on behalf of Chandan and everyone else at ESPNcricinfo. Ciao!
Here's Sampath with a couple of stats. Fifty and a four-for in a WPL game:
Deepti Sharma - 59 & 4/19 vs DC, 2024
Nadine de Klerk - 63* & 4/26 vs MI, 2026
Sampath also tells me the 18 runs that Nadine de Klerk scored to win today are the second-most target runs successfully chased in the 20th over of a WPL game. The highest is 19 by UP Warriorz in the 2023 edition, when Grace Harris took down Annabel Sutherland.
Nadine de Klerk, Player of the Match: (On if the feeling has sunk in yet) It is probably going to take a couple of days. If it is your day, you have to ensure you cash in. Glad to get the win. (On her bowling) Just about coming in and backing your skills, and executing. She (Bell) bowled exceptional. Just sticking to my strengths - sometimes it goes your way, sometimes it does not. Probably a little frustrated at the beginning of my innings. Cricket is a funny game, you have to stay in the fight. On these grounds, on these batting wickets, you just need to cash in. Towards the back end, I was thinking of taking a bulk of the strike. Couple of important partnerships. Arundhati batted beautifully. A couple of boundaries (by Prema) were also very important.
Smriti Mandhana, Royal Challengers Bengaluru captain: For the first match, it was a thriller. RCB are known for thrillers, and brilliant from Nadine (to win us this game). Everyone was very positive, even when things were not going well. The preparation has been nice. Everyone is looking good. Nadine did all the work for us in the batting and bowling department. We saw it in Vishakhapatnam when she played it against us. I was telling Malolan Rangarajan (our coach) that it was a similar situation (to Vizag). When she got dropped, we were hoping she would score runs (like Sajana).
D-Pace Ac.: "What a crucial little cameo from Prema hitting both last balls of the over 18th and 19th for boundary. "
Raji: "De Klerk.. This over itself is not justifying the price tag.. RCB should pay her more."
Harmanpreet Kaur, Mumbai Indians captain: (Last over) We know she (de Klerk) has that much capacity to score whatever runs are needed in the last over. We just did not bowl one good ball. This happens. We gave her chances and sometimes, batters come with strong mindset. We missed those chances. We did everything to win this game but in the last over, if we could've bowled one good ball, we could have won the match. (Turnaround to tomorrow) In WPL, we always get matches like that. If we stay in this game, it will not help us tomorrow. We need to think what better we can do in the next match. (On the first innings) We did not get a good start in the powerplay. Hopefully in the next match, we can sit and discuss how to go about it. It (the pitch) was not easy to bat but it kept getting better and better.
Grace Harris: (On the finish) Outstanding. She has been working hard on that finishing role. Glad to see her do that tonight. She is a class player. She has seriously improved in the last 18 months. (Emotions in the dugout) I turned to Anya and said this is a good first game of the season. When she (de Klerk) hit that six over cover, i thought we are in with a shot here. Heart rate was calm all day and spiked towards the last five overs of this match. I don't think the shots we played throughout our innings were very intelligent. Maybe a little rethink of how we will go about thinks on a sliding surface. When I first came over to India, i thought I'd be playing something similar, so happy to see her (de Klerk) going on and doing this. A bit of a surprise that I have ended up at the top (of the order).
11:11pm Geez. Some game, innit? It twisted one way. It turned the other. And it all came down to the final over. And then the final ball. de Klerk was front and centre with the bat, much like she was with the ball and again, she trumped everyone else. She held her nerve, picked her spots and send RCB into absolute raptures.
Spare a thought for MI too. They did so well to haul themselves back, with Kerr the star of the show. But just when they needed their experienced stars to stand up, they fumbled. Kerr and Sciver-Brunt spurned chances, and the latter could also not close out the 20th over, despite having 18 to defend.
2 off 1. Surely not a Super Over? How are the nerves - those at home, those on the field, of NSB, of de Klerk? A massive conference before this final ball. Four in the ring on the off side, plus short fine
8 off 2 now. The improbable is on
18 off 5 now. Keeper goes back
And, here we go again. Another final over thriller. Over 40 of 40. 18 off 6. NSB to bowl. de Klerk on strike
Back at the scene of the World Cup final heartbreak, Nadine de Klerk scripts an incredible one-person show to take RCB past Mumbai Indians in dramatic last-ball finish
In the process, Nadine de Klerk became the second player to hit a fifty and pick up a four-for in the same WPL game
Misfortune strikes RCB fast bowler Pooja Vastrakar, who was on the road to recovery from a shoulder injury but now needs more time
As many as six players made their RCB debuts while MI handed a maiden cap to two players
RCB needed 18 off the final over with three wickets left, but de Klerk pulled off another heist against a Harmanpreet Kaur-led team
