Complete guide to WPL 2024, Part 5: How Saima Thakor, Ellyse Perry, Smriti Mandhana won matches & hearts

RCB's Smriti Mandhana and Mumbai Indians' Harmanpreet Kaur faced off in an Eliminator that will be talked about for years to come.

1. Saima Thakor dismissed Harmanpreet Kaur, Shafali Verma, Jemimah Rodrigues, while playing her the Alyssa Healy-led UP Warriorz in the second edition of the Women’s Premier League (WPL). Thakor made her WPL debut against the Royal Challengers during the Bengaluru leg of the tournament on February 24, 2024. Against the Mumbai Indians, she bowled out MI captain Harmanpreet Kaur with a fullish inswinging delivery that took out the superstar batter’s offstump. Though the Warriorz went on to lose the match by a sizable 42 runs, Thakor’s high-profile maiden WPL wicket made heads turn.

2. Smriti Mandhana's RCB and Harmanpreet Kaur's Mumbai Indians were both vying for a win in the 19th match of WPL 2024, and second-last of this edition’s league stage, at the Arun Jaitley Stadium in New Delhi on March 12. RCB won by seven wickets, with five overs to spare.

3. Ellyse Perry’s historic 6 for 15 sent RCB into WPL knockouts: Australia and Royal Challengers Bangalore allrounder Ellyse Perry became the first player to take a six-wicket haul at the Women’s Premier League (WPL) on Tuesday, March 12, during the WPL 2024 league-stage fixture between defending champions Mumbai Indians and the Smriti Mandhana-led Royal Challengers. Perry, the fifth bowler to be introduced into the attack among the eight bowlers Mandhana deployed on the night, made balls jag back prodigiously and reaped dividends for bowling tight lines between the fourth stump and the middle stump. It wasn’t with the ball alone that Perry dazzled on the night. After helping bowl out Mumbai for just 113, Perry strung an unbeaten 76-run fourth-wicket stand off 53 balls with Richa Ghosh and sealed the match with a four as she finished unbeaten on a 38-ball 40.

4. WPL 2024 Eliminator: The first knockout match of the Women’s Premier League (WPL) 2024 saw Harmanpreet Kaur’s Mumbai Indians (MI) take on Smriti Mandhana’s Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) on Friday, March 15. The match was broadcast by Viacom 18’s Sports 18 channels and live-streamed on JioCinema 6:30pm onwards. RCB won by five runs, to enter the final of WPL 2024.

5. WPL 2024 Eliminator - Mumbai Indians vs Royal Challenges Bangalore: Head to head: MI vs RCB: 3-1. In four encounters between Harmanpreet Kaur’s MI and Smriti Mandhana’s RCB before this match, RCB had got the better of MI only once.

6. MI vs RCB Eliminator, WPL 2024 - Playing 11, Head to head, Pitch report and more. The RCB playing XI (possible): Smriti Mandhana (c), 2. Sophie Molineux, 3. Ellyse Perry, 4. Richa Ghosh (wk), 5. Sophie Devine, 6. Georgia Wareham, 7. Shreyanka Patil, 8. Disha Kasat/S Meghana, 9. Shradda Pokharkar, 10. Asha Sobhana, 11. Renuka Singh

MI: 1. Hayley Matthews, 2. Yastika Bhatia (wk), 3. Nat Sciver-Brunt, 4. Harmanpreet Kaur (c), 5. Amelia Kerr, 6. Amanjot Kaur, 7. Pooja Vastrakar, 8. S Sajana, 9. Shabnim Ismail, 10. Humaia Kazi, 11. Saika Ishaque

7. WPL 2024, RCB vs MI Eliminator: “How good is Ellyse Perry!” has been a staple refrain among fans, opponents, pundits, and broadcasters alike throughout her storied 17-year international career. Her match-winning performance for her Women’s Premier League (WPL) side Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) over defending champions Mumbai Indians (MI) on March 12 in New Delhi is just one example. “Making the finals was a huge priority for us and we started playing some good cricket at the right time,” Perry told reporters on Wednesday (March 13) in New Delhi during a Zoom media conference organised by the RCB Media. “In every match, it’s about turning up and doing absolutely everything you can to win the important moments but that rests on all of us in the group. “We’ve played eight games, we’ve got a good feel on what our roles are and how we can contribute to the team. Sometimes one person’s contribution can be a bit more but it’s all about that team effort for us.”

8. WPL 2024 Final: Smriti Mandhana on RCB Women vs RCB Men 2024, 2009 parallels: Smriti Mandhana’s Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) made the final of the Women’s Premier League (WPL) 2024 on March 15. Parallels arose with the 2009 RCB men’s team of the franchise qualifying for the final of the Indian Premier League (IPL) in the then eight-team tournament’s second iteration. This, more so, given both RCB Men and Women had finished second-last in the inaugural edition of their respective tournaments.