Sciver-Brunt the hero as all-round Mumbai Indians trump UP Warriorz to maneuver to No. 2
Mumbai Indians 160 for six (Sciver-Brunt 45, Kerr 39, Harmanpreet 33, Athapaththu 2-27) beat UP Warriorz 118 for 9 (Deepti 53*, Ishaque 3-27, Sciver-Brunt 2-14) by 42 runs
Mumbai Indians went second on the WPL factors desk as they thumped UP Warriorz by 42 runs of their return fixture on Thursday. They posted 160 for six on the again of useful knocks from Nat Sciver-Brunt, Amelia Kerr and Harmanpreet Kaur, who then marshalled her troops nicely to close out Warriorz with Saika Ishaque and Sciver-Brunt taking part in main roles.
Mumbai Indians struck 3 times within the first 25 balls of the Warriorz chase, they usually by no means fairly recovered. Deepti Sharma, batting at No. 5, completed unbeaten on 53 off 36 balls, however the job was an excessive amount of for her after the highest order had faltered, Alyssa Healy, Kiran Navgire and Chamari Athapaththu aggregating 13 runs between them.
Only web run fee now separates Mumbai from Delhi Capitals, the table-toppers at this stage, however Capitals have a sport in hand.
Sciver-Brunt and Harmanpreet take cost
Athapaththu had Mumbai questioning their choice to bat first. She struck twice in her first two overs to dismiss the openers, Hayley Matthews and Yastika Bhatia. That was adopted by the primary key partnership for Mumbai when Sciver-Brunt and Harmanpreet acquired collectively. Sciver-Brunt used the depth of the crease towards the spin of Athapaththu, Grace Harris and Rajeshwari Gayakwad to assist the facet finish the powerplay on 37 for two.
Even after the sphere unfold, she managed to search out boundaries with regularity whilst Harmanpreet was struggling for some fluency. Harmanpreet broke the shackles solely when Saima Thakor, Warriorz’s solely quick bowler, got here into the assault. Harmanpreet reached out to a large supply from her to crack the ball by level earlier than sweeping a full toss off Sophie Ecclestone by backward sq. leg.
Together Sciver-Brunt and Harmanpreet added 59 off 46 for the third wicket. Importantly, they hit a 4 on the primary or second ball in 5 of the seven full overs they confronted.
Kerr and Sajana add the ending touches
Sciver-Brunt was achieved in by an arm ball from Gayakwad that skidded by, whereas Harmanpreet missed her heave throughout the road towards Thakor. In a matter of 27 balls, Mumbai misplaced three wickets heading into the loss of life overs. In Kerr and S Sajana, although, that they had the batters to complete the innings.
Kerr has been in stable contact with the bat and is Mumbai’s main run-getter this season. She manoeuvred the ball nicely to choose up boundaries – going deep in her crease to chop size balls, transferring throughout to entry the realm behind sq. leg – and stored Mumbai ticking alongside. But she ought to have been caught at cowl when she was on 34 off 19, however Ecclestone could not dangle on.
Sajana, who started her WPL profession with a first-ball six within the opening sport, slogged one by deep-backward sq. leg for 4 earlier than a misfield at long-on gave her one other boundary. She hit back-to-back fours off Ecclestone within the final over too, as Mumbai scored 38 off the final 4 overs, their partnership price 43 off simply 26.
Warriorz no match for Mumbai Indians’ assault
What regarded like a preventing complete proved to be a successful one. Harmanpreet dangled the carrot to Kiran Navgire by having left-arm spinner Ishaque companion Shabnim Ismail with the brand new ball. Navgire hit the second ball from the spinner over deep midwicket for a six however ended up yorking herself in the identical over. Matthews then acquired one to cease on Athapaththu, who miscued to cowl.
Which is when Ismail, who bowled the quickest recorded ball in ladies’s cricket within the earlier outing, delivered maybe the ball of the event. It nipped again sharply from good size at 124kph to chop Healy in half and hit the stumps. Harmanpreet operated with Ismail and Matthews for six straight overs, through which Warriorz might handle solely 18 for two.
Harris, who was off the mark on her fifteenth ball with a six, then fell to Ishaque within the tenth over. In a sequence much like Navgire’s, Harris hit Ishaque for a six over long-on earlier than being bowled on the following ball. Harris and Deepti consumed 31 balls throughout their partnership, through which they added solely 26. Warriorz’s highest partnership was for the eighth wicket, when Deepti and Uma Chetry added 37 off 26 balls.
Ishaque picked up three wickets on the night time after beginning WPL 2024 with three wicketless outings.
S Sudarshanan is a sub-editor at ESPNcricinfo. @Sudarshanan7