Image Credit- BCCI
Mumbai Indians
defeated UP Warriorz by 42 runs in their rematch on Thursday, moving them up to
second place in the WPL points standings. They scored 160 for 6 thanks to some
well-placed blows from Nat Sciver-Brunt, Amelia Kerr, and Harmanpreet Kaur.
Harmanpreet Kaur then marshalled her forces expertly to shut off Warriorz, with
Sciver-Brunt and Saika Ishaque taking the lead.
Mumbai and Delhi Capitals, who are now atop the table, are separated only on
net run rate at this point, although the Capitals still have a game to play.
Mumbai was
second-guessing their choice to bat first after Athapaththu. She dismissed
Hayley Matthews and Yastika Bhatia, the openers, after striking twice in her
opening two overs. Subsequently, Sciver-Brunt and Harmanpreet formed the first
significant alliance for Mumbai. Sciver-Brunt helped the side finish the
powerplay on 37 for 2 by using the depth of the crease to counter the spin of
Athapaththu, Grace Harris, and Rajeshwari Gayakwad.
She was able to consistently identify boundaries even after the field expanded,
but Harmanpreet was having difficulty maintaining some fluency. It was only
when Warriorz’s lone fast bowler, Saima Thakor, entered the attack that
Harmanpreet broke free. Harmanpreet and Sciver-Brunt combined for 59 off 46 for
the third wicket.
Mumbai lost three
wickets in 27 deliveries as they entered the last overs. Nonetheless, they had
the hitters to close off the inning in Kerr and S Sajana.
Kerr is leading Mumbai in runs scored this season and has been in excellent
form with the bat. She kept Mumbai moving forward by deftly manipulating the
ball to take up boundaries. She would dig deep in her crease to cut length
balls and move across to access the region behind square leg. However,
Ecclestone was unable to hold on when she was on 34 off 19, even though she
should have been caught at cover.
Before a misfield at
long-on gave her another boundary, Sajana, who started her WPL debut with a
first-ball six in the opening game, smashed one through deep-backward square
leg for four. Mumbai scored 38 runs in the final four overs, their partnership
worth 43 off just 26 overs, thanks to back-to-back fours she smashed off
Ecclestone.
The sum that appeared to be a fight turned out to be a winning one. By giving
the new ball to Shabnim Ismail, the partner of left-arm spinner Ishaque,
Harmanpreet dangled the carrot to Kiran Navgire. In the same over, Navgire
yorked herself after hitting the second ball from the spinner over deep
midwicket for a six. Then Matthews stopped one on Athapaththu, who erred in his
attempt to cover.
Perhaps the ball of
the tournament was bowled by Ismail, who in the previous match bowled the
fastest ball ever recorded in women’s cricket. At 124 kph, it nipped back
quickly from a fair length, severing Healy in half and striking the stumps. For
six consecutive overs, Harmanpreet operated with Ismail and Matthews, allowing
Warriorz to muster just eighteen for two.
After hitting a six off the fifteenth delivery, Harris was bowled out by
Ishaque in the tenth over. Harris blasted Ishaque for six over long-on in a
sequence reminiscent of Navgire’s, only to be bowled on the following ball.
During their partnership, Harris and Deepti consumed 31 balls, adding only 26
to the total. The greatest partnership for Warriorz came for the
8th wicket, where Deepti and Uma Chetry added 37 off 26 balls.