WPL24: Mumbai Indians avenges earlier loss to UPW , Sciver stars in victory

 

Defending champions Mumbai Indians defeated UP Warriors by 42 runs in  Women's Premier League (WPL) T20 match on Thursday, registering their fourth win in the tournament.  Mumbai Indians' batting was not so special.  But despite this they showed their ability  in bowling.  After winning the toss and opting to bat, Mumbai Indians made a comeback after the initial setbacks and posted a respectable score of 160 runs for six wickets on a tricky pitch .

 UP Warriors, who set out to chase this target, lost three wickets for 15 runs in the fifth over.  The team could not recover from these initial setbacks and Deepti Sharma's unbeaten half-century of 53 runs also could not help the team,Deepti scored unbeaten 53 runs in 36 balls with six fours and two sixes.  UP Warriors lost by scoring 118 runs for nine wickets in 20 overs.  This is their second consecutive defeat.  Mumbai team has eight points with its fourth win in six matches, making it equal to top-ranked Delhi Capitals (eight points) in terms of points.

UP were rattled right at the start with Navgire (7) falling to Saika bowled next ball after hitting her for 6 . Athapaththu (3) was caught at extra cover off Saika and Healy (3) had her leg stump uprooted by a fast and furious Shabnim Ismail . UPW's biggest star Grace Harris was bowled by Saika for 15 .

 UP Warriors' score was 42 runs for four wickets in 10 overs and to win they had to score 119 runs in 60 balls, which seemed impossible considering their batting.  The condition of their batting was such that except Deepti, only two other players could reach double digit score in which Grace Harris scored 15 runs and Shweta Sehrawat scored 17 runs.  Saika Ishaque was the most successful bowler among the bowlers of Mumbai Indians, taking three wickets for 27 runs.  Nate Sciver Brunt took two wickets.

 Mumbai Indians also did not have a good start with the openers falling cheaply .  But Nat Sciver Brunt (45 runs in 31 balls) and captain Harmanpreet Kaur (33 runs in 30 balls) took over the innings with a solid partnership of 59 runs in 46 balls for the third wicket.  After this, Amelia Kerr helped in increasing the score by scoring unbeaten 39 runs in 23 balls and Sanjeevan Sajana scored unbeaten 22 runs in 14 balls.  Both of them finally added 43 runs in 4.2 overs.  Mumbai had lost the wickets of both its openers Yastika Bhatia and Hayley Mathews by the fourth over.

Both of them were dismissed by Sri Lankan off-spinner Chamri Athapaththu, against whom both of them reached the pavilion trying to hit big shots.  During his aggressive innings, Sciver Brunt hit the ball cross the boundary eight times while Harmanpreet played the role of 'anchor' while playing with patience.  This partnership seemed to be dangerous for UP Warriors, when left arm spinner Rajeshwari Gaikwad bowled Sciver Brunt on a fast full length ball and took his wicket.

 UP Warriors captain Alyssa Healy made a good change in the bowling by introducing Saima Thakor in the 15th over, who ended Harmanpreet's innings with her very first ball by rattling her stumps , Harman  hitting three fours and a six.  Amanjot Kaur again fell victim to Deepti Sharma's ball.  But Kerr took advantage of two lives to take Mumbai Indians past 150 runs.   Kerr and Sajna hit 10 fours and took Mumbai to 160 runs.  Ecclestone had a rare day without wickets .  Sciver was the player of the match for her 45 runs & 2 wickets.