Ecclestone carries UP Warriorz with her big-game mentality

It seemed a no-brainer Royal Challengers Bengaluru would open the batting with Smriti Mandhana and Richa Ghosh to knock off the nine runs they needed to win in the Super Over against UP Warriorz on Monday night.

And while they were in discussion, Sophie Ecclestone quickly yanked her pads and gloves off and was ready to go again. As Deepti Sharma stood beside head coach Jon Lewis, Ecclestone walked across with ball in hand, having been the very reason the game had gone this far.

After bowling an outstanding final over in regulation time that went for just six runs, after walloping Renuka Singh for two sixes and a four in a different final over to force a tie, she now had to bowl the Super Over to decide the winner. No pressure.

If you've endured what England did at the hands of Australia in the Women's Ashes recently, you're unlikely to want the ball back in your hands this soon.

But Ecclestone is different. She was happy to be back in a pressure situation, with the game rested entirely on her shoulders. She gave Deepti and Lewis no chance. She was taking the ball. She was bowling the Super Over.

"I don't think there was a conversation," Ecclestone told Star Sports. "It was just 'give it to me'. I have a great team around me, Jon knows me very well. I was quite lucky to have people around to help me execute my plans."

It became clear the Warriorz were going the Ecclestone way. Her mantra: No room to free the arms, no length to hit. She was going full and straight, towards the base of the stumps from around the wicket.

"I feel like it was a great wicket, [the ball] was skidding through," Ecclestone said. "There wasn't much bounce, if I felt I could get it as full as I can, and get it under the bat, then I could try and give them little chance to score runs."

It hadn't been that simple a while ago, though, when she was batting on 3 off 8, struggling to force the ball off the square. But when Renuka faltered in the final over, Ecclestone walloped her for 6, 6 and 4. It wasn't blind slogging; it was a proper, calculated takedown of India's pace spearhead.

The first ball was a gift - a full toss - and she moved across her crease to hit it over short fine. Having missed her length, Renuka now went into the pitch. Ecclestone stayed still, deep in her crease to wind up before she muscled the half-tracker over deep midwicket.

The four was equally ferocious in how she was able to manufacture pace on the ball when there was none. There was precision involved as well, the ball bisecting backward point and short third. Yet with two still needed off two, it could've all been for nothing.

"The way she executed her bowling in the end, it shows her class. It's not easy for a left-arm spinner. To bowl that last over, the 20th [which went for just six], plus Super Over - she's an extremely valuable player"Jon Lewis on Ecclestone's heroics

Ecclestone took a single to leave the game in the hands of a rookie No. 11, who was batting for the first time in front of a boisterous crowd of 28,000. Neither spoke a language the other understood.

"Kranti [Goud] was laughing at me," Ecclestone said. "She had no idea [what I was telling her], she doesn't speak English, and I don't speak Hindi.

"I think it was interesting, I don't know why I ran. I think maybe I thought I could hit it into the gap and run two. But to Kranti, I was like 'just smile, try to hit the ball and run as much as you can'. Yeah."

When Goud missed, they ran for their lives. Only to be denied by Ghosh who did an MS Dhoni, running up to the stumps to break the bails rather than risk an under-arm flick. But moments later, the euphoria of a tied game dissipated when Mandhana and Ghosh ran out of gas, with Ecclestone denying them yet again.

"The way she executed her bowling in the end, it shows her class," Lewis said. "It's not easy for a left-arm spinner. To bowl that last over, the 20th [which went for just six], plus Super Over - she's an extremely valuable player who performs week-in, week-out wherever she goes."

An over is all it took for Ecclestone to turn into the wrecking ball of WPL 2025. While everyone around her was visibly elated, pumped even, Ecclestone, who'd delivered a popcorn thriller, was in her little bubble, having silenced 28,000 fans who'd been cheering against her.