Ecclestone stuns RCB in first-ever Super Over in WPL

Ellyse Perry's unbeaten 90 went in vain as Sophie Ecclestone (33 off 19) silenced the M Chinnaswamy Stadium with a last-over blitzkrieg before conceding just four runs in the first-ever Super Over of the tournament to leave RCB with a second successive loss at home.

Openers Smriti Mandhana and Danielle Wyatt-Hodge were cautious at the start of the innings. Grace Harris who picked up a hattrick in UPW's previous outing, began with a waist-high full toss which Wyatt-Hodge smashed over the ropes. UPW's fielding woes continued as the batter was dropped at point a few balls later. But Mandhana was once again found wanting against off spin. She was castled by Deepti Sharma, her 11th dismissal against off spin across all editions of the WPL.

The in-form Perry took the attack to Ecclestone in her first over, clinching two boundaries. She followed it up with a six off Saima Thakor but despite this it was a very strong bowling performance by UPW in the first ten overs, restricting RCB to 67 for 1. Both batters then found their touch against Deepti in a 14-run over including one six and one four. The Australian then brought up her 50 before Wyatt-Hodge hit young Kranti Goud for three boundaries as RCB continued to up the ante.

Wyatt-Hodge followed Perry in reaching 50 with a massive six off her English counterpart, Ecclestone. But she departed soon as she slashed straight to backward-point. Richa Ghosh powered two fours before Chinelle Henry caught her off her own bowling. Kanika Ahuja then was run-out by Uma Chetry and just when things were slipping away for the hosts Perry upped the tempo once again. She smashed Deepti for 16 runs in an over after taking apart Tahlia McGrath in the previous over. But Ecclestone bowled a wonderful final over, conceding just 6 runs as RCB finished on 180 for 6.

The UPW innings commenced with the Kiran Navgire show. She started with two boundaries in the 'V' off Renuka Singh Thakur before Kim Garth bore the brunt of the powerful opener in a 16-run over. Her innings of 24 was cut short, castled by a booming in-swinger from Renuka. Deepti, the new batter, continued to take the attack to Garth in another expensive 14-run over by the Australian. Young Vrinda Dinesh's struggles in the WPL continued as she was caught at cover before McGrath was nipped by Sneh Rana for a duck.

Deepti went after Rana, nailing her sweeps for two fours and a six. But just when she was looking ominous, she gloved one to the 'keeper to bring her promising innings to an end. Shweta Sehrawat bided her time while Deepti punished Georgia Wareham. Uma Chetry and Sehrawat too deployed the sweeps to keep UPW in the hunt. The RCB spinners were guilty of bowling too many short deliveries or erring in line which were dispatched by UPW. But Rana got Chetry to hole out while Sehrawat nicked behind as UPW lost their seventh wicket still requiring 57 runs.

RCB landed another major blow with the wicket of Henry and the game seemed to be dead and buried. But Ecclestone had other ideas, signalling her intent with two consecutive sixes off Wareham. Saima followed suit with another maximum but was run out in an attempt to take two. With 18 required off the final over, Ecclestone smashed a juicy full-toss over square-leg and followed it up with another hit over the mid-wicket boundary. The next ball was cut to the fence for four more. The equation was down to 2 off 2 and then 1 off 1 but the Englishwoman was run out, taking the game to the Super Over.

Kim Garth bowled an excellent over to restrict UPW to 8 runs. But even that was enough for star of the night Ecclestone, who only conceded four runs to seal UP Warriorz's second win of the season.

Brief Scores: Royal Challengers Bengaluru 180/6 in 20 overs (Ellyse Perry 90*, Danielle Wyatt-Hodge 57; Tahlia McGrath 1-30, Chinelle Henry 1-34) tied with UP Warriorz 180 in 20 overs (Sophie Ecclestone 33, Shweta Sehrawat 31; Sneh Rana 3-27, Renuka Singh Thakur 2-36) - UP Warriorz won the super over

Super over: UP Warriorz 8/1 (Chinelle Henry 4, Sophie Ecclestone 1*) beat Royal Challengers Bengaluru 4/0 (Richa Ghosh 2*, Smriti Mandhana 2*) by 4 runs