Nat Sciver-Brunt’s unbeaten half-century and tight spells from bowlers helped Mumbai Indians beat Delhi Capitals by 7 wickets to become the inaugural champions of Women’s Premier League 2023 (WPL) here at Brabourne Stadium on Sunday.
Chasing a modest 132-run target, Mumbai Indians did not get an ideal start losing opener Yastika Bhatia for 4 as Radha Yadav dismissed her and they lost their opening wicket for 13. Jess Jonassen came in as a first change bowler to get the prized scalp of Hayley Matthews for 13 as Mumbai Indians lose their second wicket for 23. Captain Harmanpreet Kaur and Nat Sciver-Brunt struck a much-needed partnership for Mumbai as the duo took the team’s total beyond the 50-run mark in 9.2 overs.
Harmanpreet and Sciver-Brunt notched up a 50-run partnership off 53 balls.
Just when it seemed that MI will comfortably chase down the target they lost the wicket of their skipper Harmanpreet to a run out for 37 as they lost their third wicket for 95.
Despite losing their skipper the team looked in control as Sciver-Brunt along with Amelia Kerr took Mumbai Indians past the triple-figure mark in 16.3 overs.
Sciver-Brunt went on to score a half-century off 52 balls. With 21 more runs needed off the last two overs, Sciver-Brunt and Kerr ensured that Mumbai Indians went past the winning target in 19.3 overs registering a comfortable seven-wicket win. Nat Sciver-Brunt remained unbeaten on 60 off 55 balls while Amelia Kerr scored 14 not out off 8 balls.
Earlier in the day after being asked to bowl first, Mumbai Indians got off to a fiery start as their star bowler Issy Wong gave Delhi Capitals back-to-back blows as she delivered two full-toss deliveries, dismissing Shafali Verma and Alice Capsey in the second over of the innings. The right-handed batter Jemimah Rodrigues and captain Meg Lanning then handled the charge and slammed Mumbai bowlers for boundaries at regular intervals.
Lanning hammered Nat Sciver-Brunt for 13 runs slamming three back-to-back fours. However, Rodrigues’ stint at the crease was short-lived as she handed an easy catch to Hayley Matthews in Wong’s spell after scoring 9 runs.
Marizanne Kapp then came out to bat, but the batter could not do much and fell prey to Melie Kerr after scoring 18 off 21 deliveries.
Exemplary fielding efforts from Amanjot Kaur and Yastika Bhatia gave Delhi a big blow as Lanning was run out after scoring 35 off 29 deliveries. At this point, Delhi kept losing wickets at regular intervals.
Mumbai bowlers completely dominated Delhi as Jess Jonassen fell prey to Matthews, who caught and bowled the batter. Matthews then delivered a stunning over to dismiss Minnu Mani and Taniya Bhatia back-to-back in the 16th over of the game. Shikha Pandey and Radha Yadav fought back and slammed Saika Ishaque for 10 runs in the 17th over of the innings.
Shikha hammered Wong for 20 runs slamming three boundaries and one maximum. In the last over Radha Yadav hit back-to-back two sixes and took her team’s total to 131/9 in 20 overs.
Brief score: Delhi Capitals 131/9 (Meg Lanning 35, Radha Yadav 27; Hayley Matthews 3-5) vs Mumbai Indians 134/3 in 19.3 overs (Nat Sciver-Brunt 60*, Harmanpreet Kaur 37; Radha Yadav 1/24).
