Defending champions Mumbai Indians cruised home in a last-ball drama to begin the defence of their title in Bengaluru, winning by four wickets in the WPL 2024. A movie-like denouement – after the game shifted one way before turning the other – was only fitting given the glitzy opening ceremony.
Harmanpreet Kaur won the toss and invited Delhi Capitals to kick the second season of the Women’s Premier League off. Shafali Verma and Meg Lanning pinched on a slow start with just 6 runs on the board and an early wicket of Verma as Shabnim Ismail went deep into the crease to smear the bails off until Alice Capsey brought the first boundaries for Delhi in the fourth over.
Capsey went on to hit two more fours, one each in the fifth and the seventh over before Meg Lanning broke into the seventh over to hit her first four of the match and the tournament until the first maximum of the same came in the ninth over from her bat. But she too had to depart mid-way through the partnership in the eleventh over at 31 off 25.
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But the wicket didn’t bring much sorrow for Delhi as Capsey went further steps on to smash two back-to-back sixes followed by a boundary in the twelfth over. Things were all set for Delhi as the new down Jemimah Rodrigues and Capsey were soaring as high as the sixes as both were on a stride of hitting maximums on regular intervals; Jemimah went through the hands in the seventeenth over for a bigger six.
But post that, Alice Capsey had to walk back to the pavilion by facing an LBW by Amelia Kerr in the 18th over. But Rodrigues showed some valour with some continued stroked that brought one more maximum to her account before getting succumbed to the third ball of the nineteenth over by Nat Sciver-Brunt. And then there was Marizanne Kapp coming in with swinging bats to smash three consecutive boundaries before finally being dismissed by Amelia Kerr in the last over.
𝙐𝙉𝘽𝙀𝙇𝙄𝙀𝙑𝘼𝘽𝙇𝙀!
— Women's Premier League (WPL) (@wplt20) February 23, 2024
5 off 1 needed and S Sajana seals the game with a MAXIMUM very first ball🤯💥
A final-over thriller in the very first game of #TATAWPL Season 1 🤩🔥
Scorecard 💻📱 https://t.co/GYk8lnVpA8#TATAWPL | #MIvDC pic.twitter.com/Lb6WUzeya0
172 was the target on the board for the defending champions to get started with a winning streak. And on this, Mumbai Indians started on a collapsing note of a wicket in the name of Hayley Matthews. But it only saw a silent second over before Yastika Bhatia and Nat Sciver-Brunt took the charge to spearhead the chase with raining sixes and fours as Mumbai Indians were 50 for the loss of 1 after the powerplay.
But an unfortunate Brunt saw her early dismissal in the seventh over’s first ball as Arundhati Reddy got the breakthrough for her team but Bhatia and Kaur carried the scoreboard further with their ecstasy of torrential boundaries and timely sixes from the bat of Bhatia before she finally had to leave for the dugout at a valiant 57 off 45 balls.
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Fresh down Kerr tried to give proper support with her bat to her skipper with incessant boundaries from her bat before departing on the last ball of the 18th over for 24 off 18. The last overs of the match saw some valiant stride from the sides as the last ball of the 19th over saw a maximum from Kaur. Post that the last over saw Vastrakar’s dismissal, Kaur’s boundary, her departure and the winning six by Sajeevan Sajana that brought MI past 172.
Brief Scores: Mumbai Indians vs Delhi Capitals Match 1
Delhi Capitals 171/5 in 20 overs (Alice Capsey 75, Jemimah Rodrigues 42; Nat-Sciver Brunt 2-33, Amelia Kerr 2-43) lost to Mumbai Indians 173/6 in 20 overs (Yastika Bhatia 57, Harmanpreet Kaur 55; Alice Capsey 2-23, Arundhati Reddy 2-27) by 4 wickets.
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