With spunk and brute force, de Klerk makes WPL opening night her own

Daily Update, Sports

Back at the scene of the World Cup final heartbreak, Nadine de Klerk scripts an amazing one-person show to take RCB past Mumbai Indians in dramatic last-ball finish

You really can’t make this up.

Just a couple months ago, Nadine de Klerk sat in the middle of the DY Patil Stadium in Navi Mumbai, head hung in despair, as she watched Harmanpreet Kaur’s India celebrate their World Cup win – she had been the last to fall for South Africa. On Friday, she transformed a night at the same venue into something brighter, closing out the WPL opener for Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) against Mumbai Indians (MI) with an incredible innings.

This was her first time back at the site of what may remain the biggest heartbreak of her career, and she walked away not only with a victory against the home team but also the Player-of-the-Match award in front of a packed house. And to do it against a side led by Harmanpreet only sharpened the symmetry.

However, what defined this knock was not this back story but the situation on the night. RCB were struggling to get going in the 155-run chase, reeling at 65 for 5 in the eighth over. During the strategic timeout in the ninth over, de Klerk told head coach Malolan Rangarajan exactly how she planned to approach the goal, that she was ready to chase “upwards of eight [runs per over] in the last four [overs]”.

With the history and the scores in DY Patil, if you had told me that RCB would be chasing down 155, I would have given my arm,” Rangarajan later said.

Harmanpreet, of all people, knew what de Klerk was capable of.

She had been at the receiving end of it during the ODI World Cup league game, when de Klerk‘s 84 off 54 balls stole a victory from India. That power comes easily to de Klerk; she can hit sixes more frequently than most others and pierce the gaps with force. And earlier in the evening, she had ripped the spine out of the MI batting with the ball, removing their Nos. 3, 4, 5 and 6, including Harmanpreet.

But when she had arrived at the crease during the chase, de Klerk batted untypically, with her first 15 balls bringing just ten runs and no boundaries. There was no obvious struggle, but the timing was off, the fluency missing. The asking rate hovered beyond nine an over.

“I think probably a bit frustrated, to be honest, at the beginning of my innings,” de Klerk said at the post-match presentation ceremony. “I really struggled to get it away.”

That phase did not last. Nat Sciver-Brunt missed her yorker and de Klerk pounced, carving her first boundary of the evening. She followed it by taking on Saika Ishaque, dancing down the track to deposit one over the bowler’s head in trademark fashion.

The momentum, though, still leaned MI’s way. Nicola Carey delivered a double-wicket over for just four runs, Amanjot Kaur gave away five more in the next, and de Klerk’s plan of maintaining the required rate a bit over eight at most for the final four overs suddenly looked distant. The asking rate had ballooned past 11.

de Klerk

At a ground that routinely fills the brim for Indian women’s matches, allegiances split. “Mumbai Indians” chants were met and then drowned by a chorus of “RCB, RCB” as tension mounted. The drama peaked in a frenetic 19th over.

It was bowled by Shabnim Ismail, de Klerk’s former South African team-mate and one of the game’s premiere quicks. Almost immediately, she created a chance. De Klerk mistimed a slot ball straight to long-off where Sciver-Brunt spilled a regulation catch. Gasp turned to roar. De Klerk compounded the damage by sending the very next delivery over Ismail’s head and to the boundary.

The fourth ball brought even more theatre. Another mistaken hit went to deep midwicket, where Amelia Kerr – who had just an excellent catch at the same spot taken to send back Arundhati Reddy – dropped a sitter. But alert to a second run, Amanjot Kaur, running to her left from deep-backward square-leg, fired the ball to the striker’s end, only for wicketkeeper G Kamalini to fumble, the ball sliding free before the stumps could be broken. Three lives in four balls! Two world-class fielders dropping catches! Come on, you really can’t make this up.

“Today the finisher’s job wasn’t done [by de Klerk], the batting job was done. From the seventh over or so, she played until the last ball. So to call it a finisher’s job is a disservice”

Eighteen runs were needed off the last over and Harmanpreet tossed the ball to the experienced Sciver-Brunt, despite Amanjot having conceded just 18 from his three overs. De Klerk had a quick word with partner Prema Rawat, scanned the field, and set herself up. The first ball was hauled towards deep square-leg but she signaled to Rawat to stay in her crease and denied a run, apparently furious with herself as she let out a scream for not being able to put the ball away. Nothing came off the second ball either as she spliced it to extra cover.

Then she unleashed.

A slot ball was smoked over long-off. A slower back-of-a-length delivery was pulled to reverse square for four. Another similar ball disappeared over deep midwicket. Under pressure, de Klerk was hitting the ball harder and harder.

With two required off the final ball, MI huddled. A short fine-leg was put in place, Harmanpreet wiped the damp ball and delivered it back to Sciver-Brunt. It idn’t matter.