Charlotte Edwards gave a pep talk to the side after their loss in the eliminator vs RCB in WPL 2024. (Image: Screengrab from Instagram – @mumbaiindians)
Head coach, Charlotte Edwards was seen giving her team a pep talk following their loss against RCB in the WPL 2024 eliminator and believes that the side will go stronger.
Following the loss against the Royal Challengers Bangalore in the eliminator of the Women’s Premier League 2024, it was a tough pill to swallow for the defending champions Mumbai Indians as the players were seen dejected after their exit from the tournament.
In a video uploaded by MI’s official handle on Instagram, members of the side were seen embracing each other as their season ended on a bitter note. Players were also seen giving out autographs on the club merchandise as they said their goodbyes.
Head coach of the MI side, Charlotte Edwards was seen giving a speech to the entire dressing room where she thanked everyone for their contributions throughout the season She said,” I just want to say, look, I know everyone is gutted. I am gutted. Because I think we were really close. It will hurt, it will hurt for a few weeks, probably until we meet again.”
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The head coach also gave some words of motivation following the tough loss and thanked the skipper, Harmanpreet Kaur and the support staff as well. She added,” Okay, but we will be stronger because of this experience. We’ll be better. I’m certain of that. And just a personal thank you to Harman(Harmanpreet) for obviously leading this team brilliantly throughout the whole tournament. Also want to thank the support staff, no one sees what goes on behind the scenes. And what doesn’t kill us will make us stronger ladies.”
It was a tough loss for the side led by Harmanpreet. RCB had won the toss and asked the reigning champions to bowl first. MI were able to do a decent job with the ball, restricting the Mandhana-led side to just 135 runs in the first innings with Ellyse Perry single-handedly scoring 66 off 50 deliveries.
The 2023 title holders managed to start steadily with opening batter, Hayley Matthews scoring some boundaries in the powerplay along with Yastika Bhatia. But RCB managed to swing the momentum back in their favour with regular wickets.
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Shreyanka Patil managed to get the wicket of Matthews. But Bhatia managed to pick up the pace with some boundaries but it was Perry with the ball as she managed to get the wicket of the keeper-batter to turn the tides.
Two overs later, Georgia Wareham managed to get the wicket of Nat Sciver-Brunt and the onus was on their leading run-scorer, Harmanpreet Kaur to take the side home.
The pair of Harmanpreet and Amelia Kerr took the game deep, but the skipper took a risk to play the big shot but found the fielder at the deep mid-wicket region to give RCB hope to win the match once again.
Asha Shobana was handed the responsibility of the final over and she managed to defend 12 runs off the final over to send RCB to the finals.
Table-toppers Delhi Capitals will go up against RCB in what is going to be an intense battle between two high-performing sides and will look to be an entertaining bout between two star-studded sides as the 2024 WPL season comes to a close.
