MUM­BAI – Hay­ley Matthews’ Mum­bai In­di­ans Women will have to go through the Elim­i­na­tor route if they are to win this year’s Women’s Pre­mier League (WPL) af­ter los­ing their fi­nal pre­lim­i­nary match against Roy­al Chal­lengers Ben­galu­ru (RCB) Women in In­dia on Tues­day.

Need­ing a win to earn an au­to­mat­ic spot in the fi­nal, the Mum­bai In­di­ans went down by 11 runs in a high scor­ing af­fair at the Brabourne Sta­di­um.

Af­ter be­ing sent in to bat, RCB’s top or­der bat­ters all made sig­nif­i­cant con­tri­bu­tions to help them post a for­mi­da­ble 199 for three from their 20 overs.

Cap­tain Sm­ri­ti Mand­hana top­scored with 53 from 37 balls, Ell­yse Per­ry scored an un­beat­en 49 off 38 balls, Richa Ghosh made 36, Geor­gia Ware­ham fin­ished on 31 not out off just 10 balls and Sabb­hi­neni Meghana hit 26.

Matthews was the pick of Mum­bai In­di­ans’ bowlers with 2-37 from her four overs.

Nat Sciv­er-Brunt then belt­ed 69 from 35 balls, but the home side could on­ly muster 188 for nine from their 20 overs.

Matthews scored 19 from 16 balls be­fore be­com­ing one of Sneh Rana’s three wick­ets.

Rana fin­ished with 3-26, while Kim Garth and Per­ry took two wick­ets apiece.

The Mum­bai In­di­ans will now face the Gu­jarat Gi­ants Women in the Elim­i­na­tor on Thurs­day with the win­ner tak­ing on the Del­hi Cap­i­tals Women in Sat­ur­day’s fi­nal.

CMC