Beyond the headlines: Danni's odd innings, Rana's redemption, & RCB's Super Over issues!
Beyond the headlines; RCB v/s UPW, Game 9 of the WPL
RCB pulled off an incredible loss, throwing away both the match and the WPL’s first ever Super Over when victory seemed inevitable both times. UPW weren’t great (apart from their bowling powerplay), while RCB were awesome. It’s all very confusing.
But, what happened beyond the headlines?
Mandhana’s off-spin weakness
Written by Aksay Ram M. You can follow him on Twitter, Instagram & YouTube.
Smriti Mandhana has been dismissed by off-spinners 53 times, and averages 26.1 at a strike rate of just 116.6. Overall, she has averaged 33.1 at a strike rate of 132.5 in T20s since the start of 2024.
In particular, Mandhana is susceptible to the ball which skids on and angles into her stumps. When facing a ball from an angle from round the wicket, she tends to get into a tangle trying to force it towards the leg-side. GG’s Ash Gardner demonstrated the weakness in the season opener (as we analysed here), but both DC’s Minnu Mani & now UPW’s Deepti Sharma have had success against Mandhana this year.
Sharma has gotten Mandhana’s wicket 3 times from just 15 balls whenever they faced each other in T20s before today. Make that 4 in 16 balls now. In particular, Sharma made use of the context of the match to to dismiss the RCB captain.
Before Sharma bowled, Mandhana had only made 6 (8) while conceding 5 dots.
Due to this slow start and the pressure exerted by Chinelle Henry early, Mandhana looked to be itching for a release shot. The less risky strategy would have been to start from round the wicket with two fielders outside the 30 yard circle on the offside, and aim for a LBW by tempting Mandhana to play across the line.
Instead, Sharma understood that she might not be a fast enough bowler to pull it off, and made the over the wicket angle work for her. With one fielder at deep mid wicket and one at long off, UPW left the offside open (which just happens to be Mandhana’s favourite side).
With two fielders on leg side, Sharma has to bowl to the stumps. Mandhana predicts the delivery, and shuffles across to create room to go over the offside. But, Sharma bowls an arm ball from over the wicket which skids through and beats Mandhana.
And the RCB captain loses yet another chess match to an off spinner.
Data from Cricmetric.
Danni Wyatt-Hodge’s oddly aggressive innings
Written by Shayan Ahmad Khan. You can follow him on Twitter.
Danni Wyatt-Hodge (DWH) played an odd innings today. She made 18 (14) at a strike rate of 128.57 in the first 6 overs, 8 (13) at a SR of 61.54 from overs 7-11, & 31 (14) at a SR of 221.43 in overs 12-15. So, what happened in the middle there?
First off, this isn’t DWH’s normal MO. Usually, she starts a little slow (by T20 standards) and ramps up starting from the 11th over. Since the start of 2024 (not including today’s game), she has a 1-6 overs SR of 120.1, a 7-10 overs SR of 129.1, and a 11-15 overs SR of a quite absurd 173.
Kranti Goud’s extra bounce combined with speeds in the range of 108 to 114 kph seemed to create a difference in the 7th over. DWH showed intent against Sophie Ecclestone – stepping out twice and trying to paddle sweep once – in the 8th over. This is a matchup that has historically favoured her – 99 runs off 59 balls against just 2 dismissals. However, since the start of 2024, Ecclestone has managed to keep her quiet by conceding only 19 runs off 19 deliveries (before today).
She also got a free hit in the 10th over which was bowled by Tahlia McGrath. However, it was the extra bounce again that didn’t allow her to slash the ball outside off for a cut shot. Before today, she scored at more than two runs a ball (SR 202) in the 11th over of a T20. She did try to attack Chinelle Henry, but ended up playing two false strokes.
Overall, during the 7th to 11th overs, she had a control percentage of less than 50% (from our eye test + ESPNcricinfo commentary). Overall, her control percentage according to ESPNcricinfo for the innings was 59%.
It’s also worth comparing the percentage of high-intent (attacking) shots. From overs 7 to 11, we counted 9 such shots, despite only scoring 8 (13). In overs 12-15, it was a similar 9 out of 14 balls, but she scored 31 (14).
DWH didn’t suddenly become timid during the middle overs. She was still taking risks and attempting high risk shots - it just didn’t come off for a few overs.
Data from ESPNcricinfo and Cricmetric.
UPW Need to Rejig Their Middle Order
Written by Ritwika Dhar. You can follow her on Twitter.
UP Warriorz got off to a fantastic start, racing to 30 in just 2.4 overs, before Renuka Singh got Kiran Navgire (24 off 12) with an in swinger that rattled the stumps.
At the other end, Vrinda Dinesh continued her struggles. In her WPL career so far, she has managed just 44 runs in 8 innings. This season, her numbers have been equally underwhelming - 26 runs in 3 matches at a strike rate of just 86.66. Today was perhaps a make-or-break game, but Dinesh could only muster another disappointing outing (14 off 10).
Tahlia McGrath’s woes continued as well. Batting at No. 4, she was dismissed for a duck - her 3rd failure against off-spin in this WPL season (twice to Jess Jonassen and today to Rana). Mostly she has attempted a lofted shot, dancing down the track and getting beaten. She has just scored 25 runs in 4 innings so far. Grace Harris, too, failed to make an impact, scoring just 8 off 10, taking her to just 26 runs in 4 innings this year.
UPW’s top order has been the weakest in the tournament. Before today’s match, their top five had scored the least runs among all teams - just 265 at a strike rate of 112.76 and an average of 17.66. Except for one game, their opening partnership has struggled.
However, the bigger concern is their middle order.
From positions 3 to 6 - where Deepti Sharma, Uma Chetry, Shweta Sehrawat, McGrath, and Harris have batted in the last three matches - UPW have managed just 174 runs at a poor average of 14.50 and a strike rate of just 100, the lowest in the WPL 2025 (stats before tonight).
The good news is Shweta Sehrawat is showing promise in the middle order (31 off 25 today), and might be an option to play higher up the order alongside Uma Chetry. Plus, if all else fails, Sophie Ecclestone & Chinelle Henry can always bail you out!
Data from ESPNcricinfo.
Rana’s redemption, and her missing 4th over
Written by Shayan Ahmad Khan. You can follow him on Twitter.
Sneh Rana’s last T20I was during the World Cup in February 2023. Before today, in 12 WPL matches, she had picked up 6 wickets at an average of 52.16 and an economy rate of 9.02. She conceded runs at about the same rate today, but took 3 wickets in just 3 overs.
Tonight, Rana got the wickets of Tahlia McGrath, Deepti Sharma and Uma Chetry – two right-handers and a leftie.
McGrath isn’t in form this year, with a cumulative score of 25 runs in 3 games before tonight. Coming around the wicket, Rana bowled a good length ball outside off and got her stumped. It is her second stumping already this season, and her 4th dismissal to a spinner in 4 games.
Deepti Sharma has been one of the best left-handers in the league, especially against off spin. That held up today too – she scored 18 runs off just 8 deliveries before she was dismissed, hitting two 4s and a 6 against the RCB off spinner.
But ultimately, Rana won this battle, getting her caught behind off a good length delivery in the stump line. Finally, in Rana’s last ball of the third over, Uma Chetry played a slog sweep against an 81.3 kph good length ball at the stump line, sending the ball straight to the fielder.
Would Rana have been a better option for RCB’s 20th over?
Rana has bowled 23 balls in the 20th over in all T20s, conceding 37 runs and picking up 2 wickets. You could argue that is a very small sample size. Sophie Ecclestone – UPW’s on strike batter for the 20th over – had faced 9 of those balls, scoring 17 runs. But there’s more to it.
They had faced off against each other in WPL 2023, when UPW needed 7 runs off the last over. Sneh Rana was the bowler, and Ecclestone was on strike. She made 2, 1, 1 (runout at the other end) and a 4 to finish the game.
But Rana had the upper hand in two international matches. England needed 13 runs off the final 3 balls in the Commonwealth Games semi-final in 2022 when Ecclestone was in. She was dropped, then took a single, and finally hit a 6 when 11 was needed off the last ball – essentially a dead rubber situation.
The third clash was in another India-England game in 2021, where England needed 14 runs off the last over. Ecclestone scored 2 runs off 3 balls.
Rana isn’t an experienced 20th over bowler, but she has bowled to Ecclestone thrice with the game on the line and leads the win column 2-1. In hindsight, it might have made sense to give Rana the last over, but RCB understandably backed a frontline quick who was having a good game up to that point.
Data from Cricmetric and ESPNcricinfo.
Mandhana loses the match twice for RCB
Written by Tarutr Malhotra.
RCB snatched a loss from the jaws of victory tonight. And then they did it again. Whether the crunch time decisions belonged to Smriti Mandhana as captain, Luke Williams as coach, or someone from the analytics department, it’s hard to blame anyone outside the leadership team.
Going into the 20th over, UPW needed 18 runs to win the game, with just a single wicket in hand. Sophie Ecclestone, who averages 11.5 at a strike rate of 120 in the WPL, was the last recognisable batter and was sitting on 16 (14). UPW had a snowball’s chance in hell to make it home.
RCB decided to bowl Renuka Singh in the 20th over despite both Ellyse Perry (2-0-10-1) & Sneh Rana (3-0-27-3) waiting in the wings. In an over where RCB needed to curtail runs or get a wicket, Renuka has not shown a knack for either in the WPL.
In 20 WPL innings, Renuka has taken 10 wickets at an average of 50.40 (!). She also concedes runs at an economy of 8.30. The numbers are more favourable this season, but she still only averages a wicket every 17 balls and concedes 7.43 an over.
Before today, across all T20s, Renuka had bowled seven 20th overs at an economy of 10.95, an average of 24.3 and a dot ball percentage of 25%. Additionally, she leaks extras, having delivered 9 wides in 4 WPL matches already this season.
But, RCB got (relatively) lucky. After two 6s and a 4, UPW couldn’t score 2 runs from the last 2 balls, and we got ourselves the first ever WPL Super Over.
Kim Garth bowled brilliantly for RCB, sticking to a wide offside line, focussed on length balls. She induced a couple of false shots out of Chinelle Henry before getting her caught behind on a wide yorker. She conceded a couple of wides, but overall, an 8-1 Super Over score is very chaseable.
And, here comes RCB’s second major mistake. Everyone and their dog knew that Ecclestone - the No.1 bowler in the world with near-perfect ball control - would be UPW’s choice.
RCB chose to face her with Smriti Mandhana (Ave. 68.00 & SR. 161.9 to Ecclestone in T20s before tonight) and Richa Ghosh (Ave 12.25 & SR 104.26). Meanwhile, Danni Wyatt-Hodge (Ave. 55.5 & SR. 167.8) was just sitting on the bench after scoring 57 (41) in the game.
You could also argue that Ellyse Perry (Ave. 25.75 & SR. 101.2) was a better choice over Mandhana, because she had 90* (56) tonight and tends to score more 4s (95 to 79) and 6s (21 to 17) in the WPL.
Either way, RCB struggled to 4 runs off the over, and lost in front of their vociferous home support again.
It’s unclear who made these decisions tonight, but as RCB’s on-field leader, Mandhana cops the blame. She will always be the beloved captain who led RCB to their first trophy, but she got her crunch-time decisions wrong tonight.
Data from Cricmetric and ESPNcricinfo.
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Typo: "31 (14) at a SR of 129.17"