Navi Mumbai, (Samajweekly) Nat Sciver-Brunt’s power-packed batting performance, followed by Issy Wong’s sensational bowling (4/15) including the first ever Women’s Premier League hat-trick powered Mumbai Indians to a thumping 72 run win over UP Warriorz in Eliminator to reach the final of the inaugural edition of the tournament at Dr DY Patil Sports Academy, here on Friday.
After demolishing UP, Mumbai Indians will now face Delhi Capitals in the final of the WPL 2023 on Sunday.
England all-rounder Sciver-Brunt’s blistering half-century ( 72 not out off 38)propelled Mumbai Indians to 182-4 in 20 overs. Dropped when she was on 6 by Ecclestone, Sciver-Brunt made UP Warriorz pay dearly.
Apart from her, the likes of Amelia Kerr (29), Hayley Matthews (26), Yastika Bhatia (21) and Harmanpreet Kaur (14) got starts but couldn’t convert them into big innings for Mumbai. Sophie Ecclestone, who bagged two wickets (2/39), was the most successful bowler for UP Warriorz.
Chasing a formidable total, UP had a terrible start. A wicket-maiden from Saika Ishaque in the second over removing Shweta Sehrawat, was followed by Alyssa Healy. Very soon, the Amanjot Kaur-Yastika combo found Tahlia McGrath short of the crease.
However, UPW managed to end the powerplay on a positive note as 20 runs came off the sixth over, bowled by Saika, which included a four for Harris and two boundaries and a six for Kiran Navgire. But Harris couldn’t continue longer and fell to Sciver-Brunt.
Navgire struck some lusty blows as she tried to keep UPW in the hunt. But Wong’s sensational hat-trick in the 13th over, demolished the UP batting order.
Navgire tried to hit a big one off Wong but she found Sciver-Brunt at deep midwicket. Simran Shaikh missed a yorker to be bowled next ball and Ecclestone completed the hat-trick of victims as she inside-edged onto the stumps.
Deepti Sharma scoring16 off 20 but it was far from enough as UP Warriorz were bowled out for 110 in 17.4 overs, losing by a huge margin of 72 runs.
Earlier, Matthews and Sciver-Brunt built a steady stand to help MI make good progress after losing the wicket of Yastika. Soon, Matthews got a reprieve as the third umpire deemed that the ball touched the ground before landing in Sarvani’s hands but she couldn’t take advantage of that and got out to Parshavi Chopra.
Harmanpreet Kaur joined Sciver-Brunt at the crease and the English batter took on the young spinner Parshavi, scoring 19 off five balls across two overs, which included three fours and a six. Harmanpreet, though, struggled and eventually fell to Ecclestone for a 15-ball 14. But Sciver-Brunt kept MI going with her quick-fire knock as she took her team to 116/3 after 15 overs.
Sciver-Brunt brought up a 26-ball fifty with a boundary off Ecclestone in the 16th over and also got some good support by Kerr and Pooja Vastrakar (11 off 4) lower down the order. Mumbai erupted towards the end and smacked 66 runs in the last five overs to put up a stiff total of 182-4 in 20 overs.
Brief scores: Mumbai Indians: 182/4 in 20 overs (Nat Sciver-Brunt 72 not out, Amelia Kerr 29; Sophie Ecclestone 2/39) beat UP Warriorz 110 all-out in 17.4 overs (Kiran Navgire 43 off 27; Issy Wong 4/15, Saika Ishaque 2/24) by 72 runs.
