WPL 2024: Deepti Sharma’s maiden T20 fifty was in vain as Mumbai Indians defeated UP Warriorz by 42 runs on Thursday at the Arun Jaitley Stadium in Delhi, thanks to stellar efforts from Saika Ishaque and Nat Sciver-Brunt. After their crushing victory over UPW, the Mumbai Indians tied the Delhi Capitals for first place in the rankings.
Harmanpreet Kaur won the toss and elected to bat first calling the MI openers to kick start the inning on a positive note as Yastika Bhatia hit her and the team’s first boundary on the very first ball of the first over by Grace Harris. In the second over, Hayley Matthews was off the mark with a boundary too on the first ball but on the third ball, she unfortunately met her early dismissal by Chamari Athapaththu.
As Nat Sciver-Brunt started off her inning with a four, Bhatia had to depart early too in the fourth over only after hitting another boundary. Despite both the openers walking back to the pavilion, Brunt kept the scoreboard moving with one boundary in the fifth over, two in the sixth and one more in the seventh over to move the score to 42 for the loss of 2. And Harmanpreet Kaur was marking up the inning with her first boundary in the ninth over and another in the tenth over.
Brunt was in form from the other end, but she too finally met her dismissal in the 12th over after scoring a couple of more boundaries. New down Amelia Kerr joined in hands with the skipper to smash a boundary each in the 12th and 13th over mingled with some good running between the wickets before Kaur came up with a boundary followed by a six in the 14th over before finally getting succumbed to Saima Thakor’s breathtaking delivery which was followed by Amanjot Kaur’s wicket in the 16th over.
ALSO READ: WPL 2024: UP Warriorz (UPW) – SWOT Analysis
Fast & Fiery ⚡️⚡️
— Women's Premier League (WPL) (@wplt20) March 7, 2024
Super Shabnim castles Alyssa Healy 🔥🔥#UPW lose 3⃣ wickets inside the powerplay as they reach 17/3 after 6 overs.
Live 💻📱https://t.co/qcJK240qsL#TATAWPL | #UPWvMI pic.twitter.com/2opP5h4J3k
This further saw Sajeevan Sajana and Kerr’s fluent swaying of their bats to collect a couple of boundaries in the 17th and 18th over. And that’s how the inning finally came to an end with Sajana’s two consecutive boundaries in the last over before Kerr got run out on the last ball of the inning.
The first over of the chase started off with three singles followed by an upsurge by the first maximum by Kiran Navgire and her subsequent dismissal as Saika Ishaque jolted her bowling her out. There were two other quick downfalls in the names of Chamari Athapaththu and Alyssa Healy, but this streak of wickets came to a temporary end as Grace Harris came up with her first maximum in the eighth over.
ALSO READ: WPL 2024: Mumbai Indians (MI) – SWOT Analysis
It was followed by another six in the tenth over that finally saw her dismissal in the same over at 15 and Ishaque breaking into the wickets for once more. Shweta Sehrawat was the new in the queue to hit her first maximum in the 11th over followed by two more boundaries in the 12th over and she too had to depart in the 13th over as Pooja Vastrakar hit the stumps straight on the second ball.
They are back to winning ways and HOW! 😎
— Women's Premier League (WPL) (@wplt20) March 7, 2024
A clinical 42-run victory for the Mumbai Indians against #UPW 👏👏
Scorecard 💻📱https://t.co/qcJK240qsL#TATAWPL | #UPWvMI | @mipaltan pic.twitter.com/okS2mdzh7v
Poonam Khemnar was then trying to pull up the chase with a boundary in the 14th over followed by her dismissal in the 15th over’s third ball which further saw another wicket of Sophie Ecclestone at a golden duck in the same over. Deepti Sharma, as usual, kept her bat swinging well with the ball as she collected a couple of consecutive fours in the 16th over.
By this time, Uma Chetry too started contributing with a four from her end in the 15th over, but she had to depart early too in the 19th over as Ishaque stroke another nail in the coffin for Warriorz. The last over saw some fighting spirit from the Warriorz’ end as Sharma went on to end the match on a disappointing note.
But with fighting strokes that brought a four and a six on the second-last and last ball of the match along with her fifty going in vain in the final over that saw the ninth wicket down in the name of Thakor to sum the chase up at 118.
WPL 2024: Mumbai Indians vs UP Warriorz Brief Scores
Mumbai Indians 160/6 in 20 overs (Nat Sciver-Brunt 45, Amelia Kerr 39; Chamari Athapaththu 2-29) beat UP Warriorz 118/9 in 20 overs (Deepti Sharma 53*, Shweta Sehrawat 17; Saika Ishaque 3-27, Nat Sciver-Brunt 2-14) by 42 runs.
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