WPL 2024/25, RCB-W vs UPW-W 18th Match Match Report, March 08, 2025
UP Warriorz 225 for 5 (Voll 99*, Navgire 46, Harris 39, Wareham 2-43) beat Royal Challengers Bengaluru 213 (Ghosh 69, Perry 28, Meghana 27, Rana 26, Ecclestone 3-25, Deepti 3-50) by 12 runs
UP Warriorz went out of WPL 2025 in the most thrilling manner, and they took defending champions Royal Challengers Bengaluru along with them. This means Gujarat Giants will now make their maiden playoffs appearance, joining Delhi Capitals and Mumbai Indians. The fight for the top spot, though, is still wide open.
Ghosh smashed 69 off 33, but her dismissal with RCB needing 55 off 3.4 overs left them on the edge. Then came another twist, when Deepti Sharma, who dismissed Ghosh, conceded the most runs in a single over in the WPL’s short history – 28 off the 19th – as Rana smacked her for an incredible sequence of 4, 6, 6, 4, 6 to bring the target down to 15 off seven balls.
One of the fours also came off a no-ball, but more dramatically, prior to delivering that ball, Deepti stopped short of her delivery stride when Kim Garth backed up too far at the non-striker’s end, but did not run her out.
But Rana’s magic ended when she muscled a flat hit straight to Poonam Khemnar, whom RCB had let go ahead of the auction, at the deep midwicket fence. That blow, which left RCB nine down, was the knockout punch for the defending champions, with Warriorz sealing victory in the final over when they had Renuka Singh run out.
Fittingly enough, Voll, who at one point may have wondered if her magical knock may have gone in vain, delivered the final over that she began with two dots to all but close it out before the run-out. It marked an incredible end to Voll’s maiden WPL stint, which had needed her to cut short her home renovation in Queensland to make a quick dash to India only a week ago.
Having come in as a replacement for Chamari Athapaththu, Voll showed potential to possibly be retention material, a definite positive for the Warriorz in a campaign that brought them just three wins in eight matches.
