The Mumbai Indians and the Royal Challengers Bangalore face off in the 4th match of WPL 2023 on Monday (March 6), at the Brabourne Stadium in Mumbai.
RCB lost their season opener against the Delhi Capitals by a comprehensive margin of 60 runs. Opting to field first, their bowlers completely lost the plot against DC openers Meg Lanning and Shafali Verma, who put on a batting masterclass.
They ended up scoring 223/2 in their 20 overs, and RCB could only manage 163/8 and even that was courtesy of some late heroics from Megan Schutt and Heather Knight.
Meanwhile, the Mumbai Indians beat the Gujarat Giants by an even bigger margin (143 runs) in the WPL opener. Captain Harmanpreet Kaur was on fire, racing to a 30-ball 65, with Amelia Kerr and Hayley Matthews also getting among the runs. Saika Ishaque was the pick of the bowlers as GG collapsed to 64 all out.
With the two sides filled with big names clashing against each other, it's bound to be a huge spectacle. We had a thriller in the second game of the doubleheader yesterday and everyone will be hoping that trend continues. On that note, let's look at some differential Fantasy picks for this match.
#3 Preeti Bose (RCB)
RCB as a bowling unit really struggled in their game against Delhi, with even the likes of Megan Schutt going for plenty of runs. Apart from Renuka Singh, Preeti Bose had the best economy rate for RCB (8.75) and in the context of the game, that's pretty impressive.
The left-arm spinner showed good control in her bowling spells for the most part and on another day, she could've been among the wickets. A capped Indian bowler, Preeti has excellent stats for India, with a T20I economy under 5 RPO. It's a huge surprise why her last game for India came way back in 2016.
In any case, she's a player with very low ownership and could prove to be a stellar differential for your team.
#2 Issy Wong (MI)
MI had a lot of good performers in their dominant win over the Gujarat Giants and Issy Wong's contributions might have been overshadowed by her teammates'. The seamer finished the game with excellent figures of 1/7 in her three overs while picking up the most crucial wicket of Ashleigh Gardner.
The seamer also scored a six off the only ball she faced in the innings, showing that he's she's a handy middle-order batter as well. The 20-year-old has been overlooked by many Dream11 players in favor of the more popular MI all-rounders, but Wong could be a massive success in this match.
#1 Sophie Devine (RCB)
Sophie Devine opened the batting for RCB and got them off to a good start, before being dismissed by Alice Capsey courtesy of a stunning catch from Shefali Verma. She also bowled after quite a while and while the result wasn't ideal for RCB, it showed that captain Smriti Mandhana backs her bowling abilities and we shouldn't be surprised to see her with the ball in hand more often.
She is in somewhat of a lean run with the bat starting from the T20 WC, but overall, she is one of the most destructive batters in the world and needs just one good knock to get back in form. It might be the success of the MI all-rounders or Devine's poor form that she isn't owned by many, but she could be a powerful differential for this match.
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