Mumbai Indians produced a dominating show with the ball, led by spinner Saika Ishaque (3/27) and an all-round show from Nat Sciver-Brunt (45 runs and 2/14) as they brushed aside a poor UP Warriorz by 43 runs for their fourth win of the ongoing WPL 2024 in Delhi on Thursday. Chasing a middling 161, UPW huffed and puffed to 118/9 to crash to their fourth defeat of the season.
UPW’s chase was off to a terrible start thanks to Saika, Hayley Matthews and Shabnim Ismail striking in quick succession to leave them struggling at 16/3 in 4.1 overs. Saika landed the first blow, exacting quick revenge on Kiran Navgire by having her bowler right after being launched into the Delhi night sky for a six in the second over of the chase. Next batter Chamari Athapaththu lasted five deliveries, falling to Matthews before Shabnim cleaned up captain Alyssa Healy on three.
UPW were under pressure and the big-hitting Grace Harris played 14 dot balls before clearing the long-off boundary with ease to open her account with a six. She then had Deepti Sharma to thank for taking a review after she started walking back to the team dugout following an LBW decision. The ball-tracker predicted it to miss the stump. The stage seemed set for a Harris special. A six off Saika in the following over delighted the sparsely populated Arun Jaitley Stadium, a majority of the crowd sporting the yellow of UPW.
The cheer quickly faded into a stunned silence when Harris went for a big shot only to be bowled off the next delivery by Saika leaving UPW with a mountain to climb having been reduced to 41/4 in 9.2 overs.
Shweta Sehrawat was then dropped by MI captain Harmanpreet Kaur when she was yet to open her account. She seemed to capitalize on the chance, smoking Nat Sciver-Brunt for a six before clattering two fours in an over of Amelia Kerr. The fun ended soon when Pooja Vastrakar had her bowled on 17 leaving UPW in a deeper hole from which they never recovered.
Deepti Sharma raised her maiden WPL half-century (53 not out) but in vain.
Harmanpreet won the toss and opted to bat first expecting the dew to not play any role later in the night and hence ‘why put yourself under pressure’ in a chase.
The pressure surely was felt by MI’s opponents tonight but Harmanpreet’s expectations from her openers would have been to lay a solid base on which the upcoming batters would build on the innings.
Early signs were promising. Yastika Bhatia collected a boundary, even if it wasn’t a clean hit, off the very first delivery of the contest. Hayley Matthews followed suit by hitting the first delivery of the next over for a four of her own.
Both would make hasty exits, becoming offspinner Chamari Athapththu’s (2/27) victims in consecutive overs as the defending champions lost their openers inside the first four overs. Matthews (4) struck one straight into the hands of mid-on while Yastika (9) slog-swept but found a fielder in the deep.
In between the two dismissals, UPW’s poor catching came to haunt them again when Grace Harris dropped a catch off her own bowling that would have sent back Nat Sciver-Brunt on four.
It proved a costly drop as along with slipper Harmanpreet, Sciver-Brunt went on to add 59 runs, a partnership featuring plenty of singles. In between there were boundaries to be scored when UPW erred. Rajeshwari Gayakwad conceded consecutive fours off her first two deliveries to Sciver-Brunt after straying down the leg-side. Sophie Ecclestone dragged her length back and Sciver-Brunt pulled it way to long-on for a four.
UPW dropped one of their two specialist pacers in the eleven for this game with wicketkeeper Uma Chetry taking the spot of Asha Sarvani. Saima Thakor, the lone pacer, was only summoned by the ninth over and Harmanpreet broke shackles scything a slower one to sweeper cover for her first boundary off her. Sciver-Brunt also got hold of a slower one in the over, hitting it over point for four runs.
MI were slow but solid and at the halfway stage were 64/2. However, just when it appeared MI were ready to explode with the bat, Gayakwad fired in a quick one and Nat Sciver-Brunt was castled on 45 off 31, an innings comprising eight fours.
Amelia Kerr walked in next and opened her account with a boundary. With the slog overs approaching, Harmanpreet decided to switch gears. She swept one away for a four and followed that with a slog-sweep, both off Gayakwad, to hit the first six of the innings in the 14th over.
Similar to Sciver-Brunt, Harmanpreet also fell just when it looked like MI were finally ready to dominate.
An inspired bowling change from skipper Alyssa Healy paid high dividends as she brought back the pace of Thakor, who cleaned up Harmanpreet (33 off 30) to land a major dent in MI’s hopes of a late flourish.
However, Kerr took it upon herself to lead the late injection of runs and before she was run out off the final delivery of the MI innings, had struck a valuable 39 off 23, an innings comprising six fours. S Sajana played a good hand too and remained unbeaten on 22 off 14 with the help of four fours as MI posted 160/6 in 20 overs.
MI have a day’s break to savour the win but UPW have little time to recover and recoup as they take on a red-hot Delhi Capitals next in less than 24 hours.
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