Bombay Indians 182 for 4 (Nat Sciver-Brunt 72*, Ecclestone 2-39) defeated UP Warriorz 110 overall (Navgire 43, Wong 4-15) for 72 runs
A spectacular hit of Nat Sciver Bruntthe first hat-trick of the tournament issy wongo and a return to overall brilliance saw Mumbai Indians reach the Women’s Premier League final with a 72-run complete victory over the UP Warriorz.
Mumbai and Delhi Capitals, the top teams on the points table, will play for the first WPL title. Harman Preet Kaur and Co will take meg lanningThe team for the trophy. Just appropriate.
For most of the WPL, Mumbai was predicted to go straight to the final. They had won five games in a row and seemed almost invincible… until they lost two on a trot and suddenly they weren’t first at the table anymore.
They had to play the Eliminator against Warriorz, the team that had ended their winning streak in the league phase. And in the first knockout game, Mumbai of the first half of the WPL appeared, dominating with bat and ball to reach the final comfortably, albeit a game late.
Sciver-Brunt stands up and delivers
Nat Sciver-Brunt, the most expensive foreign player in the auction, stood up and delivered at a time when Mumbai needed her most. She hadn’t had the best of games in recent outings, which had coincided with the downfall of her team’s fortunes.
But in a playoff game, he came off well with an unbeaten 72 off 38 balls on a course that didn’t seem the best for hitting.
Sciver-Brunt was brought down when she was just 6 by Sophie Ecclestone on the last ball of the Powerplay, and she heavily punished the mistake. She kept up the innings even as Hayley Matthews and Harmanpreet fell at the other end and then built a 60-run stand with Amelia Kerr off just 37 balls.
Sciver-Brunt’s strike was crucial given that Mumbai’s underexposed middle and bottom order had struggled to make big runs when the top was discarded early. The pattern was almost repeated as Harmanpreet went down with nearly a 100 on board and the Warriorz’s spinning force slowly stifled the runs.
One moment that stood out was how he took the attack to Parashavi Chopra, who had just sacked Matthews, after the first no-holds-barred over of the innings. She struck the young spinner with 15 runs off the first four balls of 12, an early marker of intent. Her 50 came off just 26 balls, with a cracked cap and held to the end, with an even six on the last ball of the inning.
Shout out to Pooja Vastrakar too, who hit 11 from just 4 balls after reaching the final over, including a massive 87-metre six.
For the Warriorz, the standout bowler was Ecclestone, who took two wickets to maintain his hold. in the purple cap. Left-hander Anjali Sarvani landed an early buyout, but Alyssa Healy’s heavy rotation of bowlers didn’t work out for her this time.
Wong in the song
In the second inning, it was another versatile Englishman who starred in Mumbai.
The first WPL hat-trick came via an outright pace bowler as Wong put the match out of Warriorz reach at 13 with wickets from Kiran Navgire, Simran Shaikh and Ecclestone.
He had already struck with the big wicket, that of the birthday girl Healy, to give Mumbai the ideal start. He then sealed the match with the hat-trick.
Mumbai sacked the backbone of the Warriorz batting line-up, its three Australians, in eight overs. Navgire, who had a string of poor scores after his fiftieth opening match, kept up the momentum and hit some big hits, including a huge 89-metre six.
But as is her habit, she went for a big one on a complete pitch and was caught at the limit. Thus began Wong’s song.
Next up was Shaikh, who castled with a complete toss that missed completely. Then came Ecclestone, who had a bit of history. The last time these two teams met, Ecclestone had hit Wong for a six in the final over to hand Mumbai their first defeat of the season. This time, she was looking for a golden duck with broken stumps. Wong’s last two wickets were the kind that go on a bowling highlights reel.
There was more to cheer Mumbai and the crowd of 39,000 who turned up. Jintimani Kalita got the first wicket from her and saika isaque he got his 15th, keeping the Purple Cap well within reach.
