Navi Mumbai: A superb recovery by seasoned all-rounders Deandra Dottin and Deepti Sharma lifted UP Warriorz to a competitive 143 for 5 against former champions Royal Challengers Bengaluru after a dramatic top-order collapse in their Women’s Premier League match here Monday.
Sent in to bat, UPW were 36/1 in the powerplay before losing four wickets in the space of eight balls to slip to 50 for 5 in the ninth over.
From there, Dottin and Deepti stitched together an unbroken 93-run stand from 72 balls to rescue their innings.
Indian ace Deepti was unbeaten on 45 from 35 balls with five fours and one six, while Dotting was not out on 40 from 37 balls (3×4, 1×6).
The duo went on the attack in the death overs, racing to their forties and scoring 67 runs in the last six overs.
Dottin took on off-spinner Shreyanka Patil with a boundary and a six in the 15th over, while Deepti launched Nadine de Klerk for a straight six in the penultimate over.
In the final over, Deepti smashed Shreyanka for two fours and Dottin added another boundary as 15 runs came off the over to push UPW to a respectable total.
Earlier, UP Warriorz started cautiously.
Lauren Bell bowled tightly with the new ball and removed Harleen Deol for 11 (14 balls), keeping the run rate at under six an over.
Shreyanka was introduced in the final over of the powerplay and almost struck immediately, dismissing Meg Lanning, but replays showed Arundhati Reddy’s hand had grassed the turf as she went for a low catch.
Phoebe Litchfield then tried to seize the momentum, smashing back-to-back boundaries off Shreyanka and later launching into a big switch-hit six over deep cover.
But Shreyanka (2/50) had the last laugh in the same over, removing both Lanning (14) and Litchfield (20) to turn the game on its head.
Litchfield, who had raced to 20 off nine balls with two fours and a six, mistimed a drag-down and was caught by RCB skipper Smriti Mandhana at mid-on.
South African seamer Nadine de Klerk (2/28) then ripped through the middle order, dismissing Kiran Navgire (5) with her first ball and Shweta Sehrawat (0) in the next.
Dottin and Deepti then batted with maturity and controlled aggression, picking off the loose deliveries and steadily rebuilding before exploding at the end.
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