Mumbai: Come Friday evening, the UP Warriorz, who are led by talismanic Alyssa Healy, are eyeing a second win in the inaugural edition of the Women’s Premier League, and standing in their way is the Royal Challengers Bangalore. The two sides will meet at the iconic Brabourne Stadium in Mumbai on 10 March.
The UP Warriorz began their campaign at the WPL with a bang, as Grace Harris’ incredible power-hitting helped them clinch a sensational 3-wicket win against the Gujarat Giants at the DY Patil Stadium. In their opener, the Warriorz were in a spot of bother with the Giants bowling picking important wickets, however, a solid counter-attack from Kiran Navgire, Harris and Sophie Ecclestone provided the team with right amount of impetus in the home stretch, as they ran out comfortable winners on the night.
Right after, Healy and co were up against the Delhi Capitals at the DY Patil Stadium. And while the result did not turn out in the Warriorz’s favour, Tahlia McGrath flexed her muscles and put on a show to remember, scoring an unbeaten 90 from 50 deliveries, smashing 11 boundaries and 4 sixes, in what was eventually a losing cause.
“The UP Warriorz is in a good place right now, yes, the second game did not go as per plans for us, but this is sport and there will be a winner and a loser in the match. We have had quite a few positives in our first two games, and we will definitely look to build on that every day, and against the Royal Challengers Bangalore we hope to put our best forward and pick up crucial points. RCB have a good team and it won’t be easy at all, but as long as we can execute our plans the way we need, the Warriorz should be able to respond to whatever situation comes our way,” said captain Alyssa Healy.
While the UP Warriorz have started their run at the tournament with some fantastic individual performances, their opponents, Royal Challengers Bangalore, are yet to register their first points and have lost three games on the bounce up until now. The Warriorz, who drafted in the young Shivali Shinde for the injured Laxmi Yadav, will be keen to ensure that the Smriti Mandhana led RCB stay down and out, for at least another game.
For Alyssa Healy and co, the task on hand may not seem very tough, given the situation with the run of form, but such is the fickle nature of T20 cricket, that there aren’t any free lunches, and the Warriorz are well aware of that.
And while the captain is yet to go through the gears in terms of her own form, the likes of Sophie Ecclestone, Grace Harris and Kiran Navgire and Deepti Sharma are all in great form, which augurs well for the Warriorz.
Come Friday, the Warriorz will no doubt hope to say Uttar dega against RCB.
UP Warriorz Squad
Alyssa Healy (Captain), Sophie Ecclestone, Deepti Sharma, Tahlia McGrath, Shabnim Ismail, Anjali Sarvani, Rajeshwari Gayakwad, Parshavi Chopra, Shweta Sehrawat, S Yashasri, Kiran Navgire, Grace Harris, Devika Vaidya, Lauren Bell, Simran Shaikh, Shivali Shinde
