"I will defend the target, you don't worry about it" - RCB's Asha Sobhana on her conversation with Smriti Mandhana in WPL 2024 Eliminator

Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) spinner Asha Sobhana played a crucial role in her side's five-run win in the 2024 Women's Premier League (WPL) Eliminator against the Mumbai Indians (MI) at the Arun Jaitley Stadium on Friday, March 15.

Asha Sobhana was handed the task of defending 12 runs in the final over. Despite experienced pacers like Renuka Singh Thakur and Sophie Devine being credible options, skipper Smriti Mandhana handed the ball to the leg-spinner.

The spin formula in the death overs worked well for RCB as tight overs with wickets from Shreyanka Patil and Sophie Molineux brought them back into the contest. MI only needed 20 runs in the final three overs, but proceeded to lose the well-settled Harmanpreet Kaur in the 18th over.

Asha Sobhana stepped up for the side, conceding only six runs in the final over, including Pooja Vastrakar's wicket off the fourth ball. The spinner revealed how events unfolded in the middle, following RCB's win that propelled them into the finals for the first time.

"From the 15th over I was thinking, the 20th over might be me, I was expecting that. At the 18th over, Smriti came to me and asked if I can bowl the 20th over, and I said 'Yeah, of course I can. I will defend the target, you don't worry about it,'" Asha Sobhana said after RCB's win in the Eliminator.

"For me personally, I visualize, and since it was the lower-order batters, I knew that no one would step out and hit me, I mean one side was bigger and the other side was comparatively smaller so, I knew that if I bowled a little slower, it is going to be difficult for them," the spinner added.

Asha Sobhana also stepped up in similar circumstances during RCB's season opener against the UP Warriorz at the M Chinnaswamy Stadium. On that occasion, the spinner claimed figures of 5-22 to give her side a narrow two-run victory.

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"That sort of confidence is what captains always look for in the bowlers" - RCB skipper Smriti Mandhana on Asha Sobhana

Smriti Mandhana could not contribute much with the bat in the first innings, losing her wicket to Nat Sciver-Brunt inside the powerplay. The in-form Ellyse Perry rescued the innings with a half-century, and the bowlers stepped up too to keep RCB in the contest.

Praising Asha Sobhana's attitude to accept the challenge of bowling the final over, Smriti Mandhana spoke about introducing a spin barrage in the death overs against the MI batters.

"The way Harman had started maybe in the 15th or the 16th over, I thought that there was no point to take it till the 20th over, and we will have to try and see what happens in the 19th over and we needed wickets. That is why I got Shreyanka and Sophie then. We did not want to give pace to Amelia Kerr because she is decent against pace. For a pacer, if you cannot nail the yorker, it is really hard to defend 12 runs, so I went to Asha and asked her, 'Will you bowl the final over?'" Mandhana said.

"That sort of confidence is what captains always look for in the bowlers. I was like, 'She's the girl,' because she was all like, 'I will bowl the over, just give me the ball.' After the match, she told me, 'In my head, I thought I am going to bowl the 20th over,' and I was like, ' Wow, I did not know that the match would even go into the final over'" Mandhana added.

RCB will face DC in the WPL 2024 final at the Arun Jaitley Stadium in Delhi on Sunday, March 17.