Nat Sciver-Brunt's ton headlines MI's sizzling win

Nat Sciver Brunt (100* off 57) ended the WPL's long wait for a century with a blistering knock that helped Mumbai Indians beat Royal Challengers Bengaluru in Vadodara and move up to second spot in the table. Sciver-Brunt's unbeaten 100 headlined MI's dominant performance with the bat as they made 199 for 4 - the highest total so far in the Vadodara leg of the tournament. She was well accompanied by Hayley Matthews (56 off 39 and 3 for 10 in two overs). In reply, RCB suffered a collapse that saw them lose half their side inside the PowerPlay before eventually falling short only by 15 runs thanks to a stunning 90 from Richa Ghosh.

Lauren Bell gave RCB the ideal start with an early wicket yet again, with that of Sajeevan Sajana, and they did keep things tight by conceding just 38 runs in the PowerPlay. Sciver-Brunt and Hayley Matthews took time to get going but once they did, the boundaries started flowing. MI raced to 76 at the halfway mark despite the sedate powerplay but the real carnage was yet to begin. Sciver-Brunt took on Nadine de Klerk for a six and a four before targetting Shreyanka Patil for a hat-trick of boundaries to bring up her fifty.

The English batter put on a show by adding three more fours in the very next over off Radha Yadav before Matthews joined the party by bringing up her own half-century. RCB needed Bell to come back and break the 131-run partnership in her final over but it hardly made a difference as the flow of boundaries just didn't stop. In the process, Sciver-Brunt also became the first batter to score over 300 runs in a WPL season on three different occasions (2023, 2025 and 2026). She closed out the penultimate over with another boundary to move to 99 before finally becoming the first player to register a century in the competition, ending the long drought.

In the chase, Sciver-Brunt conceded a hat-trick of boundaries to Grace Harris to allow RCB knock off 20 runs in just the opening two overs. But any hopes of hunting down 200 went down real quick post that as the MI bowlers ripped through the RCB batting lineup. Shabnim Ismail kickstarted the slide with Harris' wicket before Matthews bagged the big wicket of Smriti Mandhana and Georgia Voll in the same over. More misery was in store when Ismail knocked over Gautami Naik's stumps which was immediately followed by Matthews striking for the third time to leave RCB reeling at 35 for 5.

From thereon, it was just a case of damage control. De Klerk and Ghosh arrested the slide for a while before Amelia Kerr broke the partnership. Ghosh curbed her natural instincts at the start of her innings and focused on spending more time out in the middle before launching herself right at the end.

When RCB needed an almost improbable 71 off 18 balls with just two wickets in hand, Ghosh hammered a six to bring up a fifty. But when the equation came down to 59 off 12, she suddenly gave the game a bit of a spark by clearing the ropes thrice in a row before Shreyanka closed out the over with two fours. Having knocked off 27 runs in the penultimate over off Amanjot Kaur, there was a slight flutter when Ghosh kickstarted the final over with another boundary. But with 28 needed off 5, Kerr bowled a dot to effectively seal the game. Ghosh went on to hit a couple of more sixes before getting dismissed off the last ball.

Brief scores: Mumbai Indians 199/4 in 20 overs (Nat Sciver-Brunt 100*, Hayley Matthews 56; Lauren Bell 2/21) beat Royal Challengers Bengaluru 184/9 in 20 overs (Richa Ghosh 90; Hayley Matthews 3/10, Shabnim Ismail 2/25) by 15 runs