Voll powers record total, ends RCB's title defence

Knocked out of the competition on the eve of their final league game, UP Warriorz brought out their A game to put on a show at home in Lucknow by posting the highest-ever WPL total of 225/5. At the heart of it was 21-year-old Georgia Voll's imperious knock of 99 not out and a brutal 16-ball assault worth 46 from Kiran Navgire. Back on the park after a week off, RCB bowlers looked rusty and bowled either too short or too full, and Voll & Co. took full toll. To stay alive in the playoffs race RCB needed to better their own chasing record set in the season opener - which they did to their credit - but still fell 12 runs short of the target on the night to crash to their fifth straight defeat that brought curtains on their title defense with a game still to go.

Grace Harris laid into compatriot Kim Garth in the PowerPlay with five boundaries in the pacer's two-over spell with the new ball that cost 22 runs. Taking over from Harris in the second half of the PowerPlay, Voll dispatched Renuka Thakur to the fence thrice before welcoming Charlie Dean to the WPL with a six slog-swept comfortably over deep midwicket. She closed the over with back-to-back fours again, registering a half-century opening partnership in just 4.5 deliveries and helping Warriorz to a 67/0 at the end of six overs.

Even once the field was spread, Harris continued to punish Garth and her short-ish lengths as the openers put on 77 runs at 11 an over. A run out against the run of play gave RCB the much-needed breather when Harris was caught well short of her crease risking a non-existent single at the start of the eight over.

However, there was barely any respite in sight for RCB as Navgire launched a brutal counterattack to hammer three of most experienced bowlers to all parts of the ground. Perry was welcomed into the attack with a six, and Navigre was quick to spot the googly next from Georgia Wareham to loft two maximums straight over the bowler's head on successive balls. Thakur came in the firing line next. She began with a good yorker first up but Navgire clipped it comfortably to the fence to unsettle the bowler. Thakur erred in her lines and lengths all of the remaining over and Navgire pounced to smash two more over the deep midwicket ropes to race to 46 off just 15. WPL's fastest fifty was in sight but it was one shot too many as Navgire holed out to Perry near long-off.

At 148/1 in the 13th over, Chinelle Henry finally got a batting promotion and she justified it with a boundary-filled cameo of 19 even as Voll took charge at the other end. She raised Warriorz's 200 at the end of the 17th over with back-to-back boundary hits off Wareham.

RCB had erred tactically too in the middle overs, allowing a well-set Voll to target the short leg-side fence almost at will. The 18th over of the home team's innings was the only one to go without a boundary shot, but Sophie Ecclestone compensated with a couple off Garth's final over. On 91 at the start of the final over, Voll got a low full toss from Dean and she reversed it fine to move to 95. Two balls later she missed the chance to replicate that same shot and a single (and run-out of Deepti Sharma at the opposite end) off the final ball meant she could only manage to equal Sophie Devine's 99 as the highest individual batting effort in WPL.

In the reply, Smriti Mandhana got going with a sublime cover boundary but fell to yet another soft dismissal in the third over as she pulled a short ball from Henry straight to midwicket. That came just after S Meghana, playing her first game of the season and opening, took Harris apart with a 22-run over that included two sixes and as many fours. Even as Perry settled in with a hat-trick of boundaries off Henry, Meghana miscued one and holed out to long-on to give Ecclestone a wicket in her first over.

Perry and Bist carried forward the attack to finish the PowerPlay on 70/2 - the season's best thus far - but UPW kept pegging them back with regular strikes. First, it was Anjali Sarvani - playing her only match of WPL 2025 - producing a peach to clean up Perry with an inswinger on 28. Three balls later, wicketkeeper Uma Chetry produced a stunning one-handed full-length diving catch nearly around first slip to end Raghavi Bist's cameo on 14 off 12.

Sarvani, however, followed up with a poor over to let Ghosh settle in. The Indian wicketkeeper tonked the slot ball first-up with a six straight down the ground and then found the fence again to punish two consecutive half-volleys through the covers. Kranti Goud slipped in a quite 10th over, in which RCB reached their 100, followed by skipper Deepti Sharma's in which the pressure of singles - when the asking rate was above 12 - got to Kanika Ahuja. Deepti got an arm-ball to skid through and knock back the fellow allrounder's stumps.

Through the middle overs, it was Ghosh's relentless counterattack that kept RCB afloat and their hopes alive as she laid into Deepti, Sarvani and Henry. The stumper kept her calm despite losing partners at the other end, and reached a 25-ball fifty with the second of the successive sixes off Sarvani. However, a slog across the line went straight to Henry in the deep and brought curtains on her knock and, effectively, RCB's hopes.

But there was still some late drama in store as the two (nearly) knocked-out teams went on to deliver a record-shattering game on International Women's Day. UPW nearly got a taste of their own medicine when Sneh Rana threatened to do a Sophie Ecclestone from their reverse fixture. The Indian allarounder proved her batting worth with the bat in just half a dozen deliveries - talking only in sixes and fours in a quick cameo of 26 - but fell on the final ball of the penultimate over. That left RCB with 15 to get in the final six with the last wicket in hand, and two singles was all they could manage before Thakur was run-out to send Gujarat Giants through to the playoffs for the first time in three seasons.

Brief scores: UP Warriorz 225/5 in 20 overs (Georgia Voll 99*, Kiran Navgire 46, Grace Harris 39; Georgia Wareham 2-43) beat Royal Challengers Bengaluru 213 in 19.3 overs (Richa Ghosh 69, Sneh Rana 26; Sophie Ecclestone 3-25, Deepti Sharma 3-50) by 12 runs