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On Saturday, March 9, Mumbai Indians defeated Gujarat Giants by seven wickets in the 16th match of the Women’s Premier League (WPL), to reach the top of the points table. It was the Mumbai Indians captain, Harmanpreet Kaur, who scored an unbeaten 95 off 48, to help her team chase down a big total of 190 runs in the last over.
The captain of Gujarat Giants, Beth Mooney, called the toss right and decided to field first at the Arun Jaitley Stadium in Delhi. Although Laura Wolvaardt was dismissed early in the powerplay by Mumbai Indians, Beth Mooney (66) and Dayalan Hemalatha (74) shared a big stand of 121 runs for the second wicket, to put the Giants well on their way to registering an above-par total on the board.
When Mooney and Hemalatha got out after notching up their fifties, it was the newcomer Bharti Fulmali, who provided the much-needed impetus in the later stages of the Gujarat Giants innings, scoring 21 off just 13 with a couple of boundaries. The Giants finished with a score of 190/7, setting a tough target for Mumbai Indians batters to haul down after Saika Ishaque picked up a couple of key wickets in her spell.
In the run chase, the Mumbai Indians opener, Yastika Bhatia, took charge of scoring runs quickly in the powerplay, while Hayley Matthews accumulated runs at the other end. Shortly after Hayley Matthews lost her wicket for 18 off 21, the new batter Nat Sciver-Brunt didn’t trouble the scorers much either.
The 14th over of the Mumbai Indians innings saw the dismissal of Yastika Bhatia just one shy of her fifty, an innings which had eight fours and one six in 36 balls. From this point onwards, the captain Harmanpreet Kaur took the baton of scoring runs quickly while batting alongside Amelia Kerr, and her team’s scorecard read 119/3 after 15 overs.
