‘5 wickets were game-changing’, Mandhana credits Asha for RCB’s thrilling win

Sobhana Asha becomes the first Indian player to take five wickets in the Women Premier League.

Sobhana Asha (credit: Twitter)

New Delhi: Sobhana Asha bagged an astonishing five as Smriti Mandhana’s Royal Challengers Bangalore registered a thrilling two-run win over Alyssa Healy’s UP Warriorz in Match 2 of the ongoing edition of the Women’s Premier League at the M.Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bengaluru on February 24. Asha also received the Player of the Match for his stellar bowling performance.

The RCB skipper expressed her thoughts on the exciting game and credited Asha for the big win over Warriorz. She said her fifth was the game-changing moment and helped them earn their first home win of the season. Asha also became the first Indian player to take a five in WPL.

FIVE Wickets. 22 runs

Incredible spell by Asha Sobhana

Match Center https://t.co/kIBDr0FhM4 #TATAWPL | #RCBvUPW pic.twitter.com/snsIqK1Tcb

— Premier League Women (WPL) (@wplt20) February 24, 2024

“Quite a fun game. Even the last game was very close. The same equation appeared on the board. I was praying to all the gods and I was at cover, just praying and the bowlers did a great job today. Had a lot of faith in Sophie and the way she bowled the last over was brilliant and the fact that Asha got five wickets was groundbreaking,” Mandhana said at the post-match ceremony.

“Every time I saw her, I saw the look in her eyes that said: give me the ball. It’s only her second WPL season, but she has experience at home and it’s good to see her perform well. The second time out we thought we were going to go past 165, which I thought was a good total. The way Richa and Meghana batted without any contributions from me, Sophie and Perry was amazing,” she added.

UPW won the toss and chose to bowl first. However, despite some early setbacks, RCB bounced back with the help of half-centuries from Sabbhineni Meghana and Richa Ghosh. RCB put on 157 runs and later restricted Warriorz to 155 runs with the help of Sobhana Asha’s five in an extremely exciting chase.