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The Women's Premier League's (WPL) second edition is set to commence on February 23 (Friday). The teams are formulating strategies, identifying key players, and fine-tuning their skills ahead of the second season. The defending champions Mumbai Indians will take on Delhi Capitals in the opening match of the season at M. Chinnaswamy Stadium, Bengaluru.
Under Harmanpreet Kaur's leadership, MI beat DC in the final to win the title. They won Rs 10 crore as prize money for winning the inaugural season of the league. This time around the first leg will be played in Bengaluru whereas the rest of the matches will be played at Arun Jaitley Stadium, Delhi.
Before the second season begins, here’s a brief recap of the previous season
WPL 2023 opening match
The first match of the inaugural WPL season was played on March 4. Gujarat Giants skipper Beth Mooney won the toss and opted to field first against Harmanpreet's MI. Hayley Matthews' 31-ball 47 followed by skipper Harmanpreet's 30-ball 65 and Amelia Kerr's unbeaten 24-ball 45 helped MI post 207/5. In reply, Mooney got retired hurt early. Gujarat Giants suffered a batting collapse. Dayalan Hemalatha remained unbeaten for 29 as Gujarat Giants were bowled out for 64 losing the match by 143 runs.
Delhi Capitals' direct entry into final
The Meg Lanning-led DC won six out of eight matches and had a better net run rate (NRR) than MI. UP Warriorz qualified for the eliminator where they were comprehensively beaten by MI. Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) and Gujarat Giants had a poor season as they managed to just win two matches each.
First hat-trick in eliminator clash
MI's English recruit Issy Wong became the first player in WPL to take a hat-trick. She did it against UP Warriorz in the eliminator of WPL 2023. She dismissed Kiran Navgire, Simran Shaikh and Sophie Ecclestone in the 13th over. Wong took four wickets for just 15 runs and was adjudged 'Player of the Match'.
Matthews' unleashed fury in final
After Wong got rid of big names Shafali Verma, Alice Capsey, and Jemimah Rodrigues, Mathews tightened the screws with an unbelievably economical spell. She bowled two maidens, conceded five runs, and picked up three wickets to restrict DC to 131/9 in the final. With the bat, she could not do much but Nat Sciver-Brunt's unbeaten 60 took them to maiden WPL title.
Matthews was named ‘Player of the tournament’. Unsold in the first round of WPL, Matthews was picked by MI for a steal deal later in the auction. The Caribbean all-rounder proved naysayers wrong by playing a crucial role in MI’s journey to the title.
Who won the orange and purple cap?
Mathews was the fifth-highest run-scorer with 281 runs from nine innings. Lanning topped the charts with 345 runs from nine innings at an average of 49.29 including two half-centuries to win the orange cap. Matthews and England's left-arm spinner Ecclestone took 16 wickets each but the Caribbean spinner had a better average and won the purple cap.
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