(Cricket new) 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.
In the first twenty-five balls of the Warriorz chase, Mumbai Indians struck three times, and they never fully recovered. After the top order collapsed, with Alyssa Healy, Kiran Navgire, and Chamari Athapaththu scoring 13 runs apiece, Deepti Sharma, batting at No. 5, finished undefeated on 53 off 36 balls, but the job proved too much for her.
Sciver-Brunt and Harmanpreet take charge
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. The ball was cracked through point by Harmanpreet after she attempted a wide delivery, and she then swept a full toss off Sophie Ecclestone through backward square leg.
Harmanpreet and Sciver-Brunt combined for 59 off 46 for the third wicket. Significantly, in five of the seven complete overs they faced, they struck a four on the first or second ball.
Kerr and Sajana add the finishing touches
Gayakwad’s arm ball slipped past Sciver-Brunt, and Harmanpreet failed to hit Thakor with her heave across the line. 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.
Warriorz no match for Mumbai Indians’ attack
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.
This is when Ismail, who earlier in the match bowled the fastest delivery ever recorded in women’s cricket, may have produced the ball of the tournament. At 124 kph, it nipped back quickly from a fair length, severing Healy in half and striking the stumps. Warriorz were only able to muster eighteen runs in six consecutive overs while Harmanpreet operated with Ismail and Matthews.
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 biggest partnership for Warriorz came at the eighth wicket, where Uma Chetry and Deepti combined for 37 off 26 balls.
Ishaque began WPL 2024 with three wicketless innings before taking three wickets on the evening.
