Mumbai Indians (MI) set their opponents Gujarat Giants (GG) a simple target of 163 for the win but their batters were overpowered by the MI bowlers during their Women's Premier League (WPL) match at the Brabourne Stadium in Mumbai on Tuesday, March 14. Gujarat was restricted to 107 runs and condemned to their fourth loss in five matches this season.
After a very slow start, it was skipper Harmanpreet Kaur who came to save the day once again. She struck a 30-ball 51 to take her team to 162/8 in their second meeting with the Giants. Others like Yastika Bhatia ably supported her (44) and Nat Sciver-Brunt (36) with their slow yet crucial knocks.
Before she entered the pitch, Mumbai were 64/1. The India skipper helped them add another 98 runs in the last 10 overs. Kaur's innings included seven fours and two sixes in the company of Amelia Kerr (19) to revive the Mumbai Indians' charge.
Towards the end of the Indians' innings, Harleen Deol took a stunning catch to end her blitz off Ashleigh Gardner's bowling. The no. T20I all-rounder bagged her third wicket on the penultimate ball of the innings with the wicket of Amanjot Kaur, who was caught at deep midwicket.
For Mumbai, it was a dream start with the ball as Natalie Sciver-Brunt took the wicket of Sophia Dunkley in the first ball of the second innings to send her English counterpart back to the pavilion. From there on it was complete Mumbai domination with the ball.
Hayley Matthews, who has been exceptional with the bat this season, transferred her abilities to the ball, dismissing two dangerous batters in Sabbhineni Meghana (16) and Annabel Sutherland (0). First, Meghana was brilliantly caught by Kerr, and then, she caught Sutherland LBW to make up for her runless innings earlier in the day.
Ashleigh Gardner also failed to shine again, scoring eight runs in 10 balls before she was Kerr's first wicket of the night. Sciver-Brunt struck once more in the 15th over to get skipper Sneh Rana (20) LBW. Kim Garth was her final victim as she and Matthews shared six wickets each when the West Indian sent Tanuja Kanwar (0) back to the pavilion as well.
Eventually, GG were only able to score 107 runs for the loss of nine wickets, suffering a 55-run defeat for the second time at the hands of MI.
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