It was a dream come true for Harmanpreet Kaur and her Mumbai Indians (MI) side that pushed side the Delhi Capitals (DC) in a hard-fought final to secure the inaugural Women's Premier League (WPL) title at the Brabourne Stadium in Mumbai on Sunday, March 26.
Reaching a final is no mean feat, but Mumbai did so with relative ease, despite their hiccups in the latter stages of the league games. However, one player who did not falter throughout the tournament was their swashbuckling all-rounder Hayley Matthews, who finished the tournament with the Purple Cap and also was the fifth-highest run-getter of the tournament.
Hence, it was extremely surprising that the West Indies player was one of the few players to go unsold in the first round of the auctions. She was eventually brought in by the Mumbai Indians at her base price of Rs. 40 Lakhs, and the rest is history.
Not many know that cricket is not the only sport that Matthews excels at. She has represented Barbados in the javelin throw at several international track and field competitions. She is also a T20 World Cup winner, with his crucial knock of 66 off 45 balls against Australia in the final helping the West Indies to the trophy in 2016.
In June 2022, Matthews was named the captain of the West Indies women's cricket team, taking over from Stafanie Taylor.
If she shone against Meg Lanning's Australia with the bat in the 2016 T20 World Cup final, then against Lanning's Capitals, she was a masterclass with the ball. Matthews entered the game fourth in the Purple Cap race but his three wickets for just five runs propelled her to the top, above her teammates Issy Wong and Amelia Kerr. And this is quite surprising because, in the initial stage of the competition, it was actually her batting that grabbed headlines.
Only twice was Matthews dismissed for a single-digit score, starting the tournament with a 47 against the Gujarat Giants and an unbeaten 77 against the Royal Challengers Bangalore while opening the batting for her team. Despite failing to score another half-century, she was a regular fixture at the top of the order and finished with 271 runs to her name, the fifth-highest in the competition.
"We've been through many ups and downs, happy to have won it at the end of the road. This is probably just under the T20 World Cup win for West Indies. To bring it home for the Mumbai family means a lot. I guess wickets are wickets. The wicket assisted me, happy to contribute to a team win," the tournament's Most Valuable Player said after winning the Purple Cap AND the trophy.
At 25, she has years to go in the WPL before she calls time on her career. With her excellent performance this season, it is highly likely that Hayley Matthews will join the record books on more than one occasion in the future seasons of the Women's Premier League.
READ ALSO:
WPL 2023: Check the full list of award winners after Mumbai Indians clinch inaugural title
