Mumbai Indians (MI) skipper Harmanpreet Kaur, reflected on their loss to Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) in the opening match of Women's Premier League (WPL), saying they gave away chances to and didn't bowl a good ball in the last over, allowing Nadine de Klerk to score the needed runs.
RCB's Nadine de Klerk was the star of the MI vs RCB WPL match as she grabbed a four-fer followed by a match-winning half-century, powering the Smriti Mandhana-led side to open their account with a win in the opening match of the tournament.
Chasing 155, de Klerk slammed 20 runs off the last over to get her side over the line and secure a win by three wickets over the defending champions.
The target of 18 runs achieved by RCB is the second most in the final over of a WPL game, only behind 19 by UP Warriorz vs Gujarat Giants in Navi Mumbai back in 2023. (ANI)
While speaking to reporters after the match on Friday, she emphasised the need to move on and focus on the next match.
Nadine de Klerk's four-fer, followed by a match-winning half-century, powered RCB to open their account with a win in the opening match of WPL 2026 against MI on Friday in Navi Mumbai.
She slammed 20 runs off the last over to get her side over the line and secure a win by 3 wickets over the defending champions.
"(Last over) we know she (Nadine de Klerk) has that much capacity to score whatever runs are needed in the last over. We just did not bowl one good ball. This happens," Harmanpreet said at the post-match press conference.
"We gave her chances, and sometimes, batters come with a strong mindset. We missed those chances. We did everything to win this game, but in the last over, if we could've bowled one good ball, we could have won the match.
"(Turn around to tomorrow) In WPL, we always get matches like that. If we stay in this game, it will not help us tomorrow. We need to think about what better we can do in the next match," she added.
On Mumbai's slow start, Harmanpreet said: 'We did not get a good start in the power play. Hopefully, in the next match, we can sit and discuss how to go about it. It (the pitch) was not easy to bat, but it kept getting better and better,' Harmanpreet added.
Mumbai Indians head coach Lisa Keightley rued the dropped catches and admitted that they had an under-par first-innings total.
However, what hurt the Mumbai-based franchise more was what transpired in the 19th over of the second innings, where Nadine de Klerk was dropped twice, first by Nat Sciver-Brunt and then by Amelia Kerr.
"It was definitely under par, I think it looked quite hard early, and Lauren Bell bowled extremely well on those conditions.
"We put pressure on early. But to get to the score that we did was good, and if we got another 10 off the last over, it could have been a little bit different. But it was well under par to fight and stretch the game out, and to have that position to win the match. But the dropped catches really hurt us in the long run," the Mumbai Indians coach said in the post-match press conference.
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