Mumbai Indians edge past Delhi Capitals to clinch inaugural WPL title
After entertaining the fans with exhilarating cricketing action for 22 days, the Women’s Premier League finally reached its culmination on Sunday, March 26. Mumbai Indians and Delhi Capitals locked horns in the final of the competition. Delhi captain Meg Lanning won the toss and decided to bat in the big final at Brabourne Stadium in Mumbai.
The decision, however, backfired as Mumbai were successful in breaking the dangerous opening duo. Issy Wong continued her form from the last game. She drew first blood for her side dismissing Shafali Verma on a full toss for 11 off 4 balls.
She further got the prized scalp of Alice Capsey in the same over on another full toss. After 1.5 overs, Delhi Capitals found themselves on 12/2. Wong further dismissed Jemimah Rodrigues in the fifth over to bring Delhi down to their knees. With Delhi in all sorts of trouble, Lanning and Marizanne Kapp added 38 runs for the fourth wicket. However, they were unable to extend their partnership beyond that point, as Amelia Kerr dismissed Kapp in the 11th over.
Delhi got the worst blow of the match as captain Lanning was run out on 35 in the 12th over. Lanning’s wicket sparked a collapse as Delhi lost three wickets quickly to be 79/9 in 16 overs. A miraculous stand of 52 off 24 balls between Shikha and Radha helped Delhi to finish their innings on 131/9. Hayley Matthews was the pick of the bowlers for Mumbai Indians. She picked up 3/5 in four overs while Issy Wong also picked up 3/42 in four overs.
In the second innings, Radha Yadav made sure that Mumbai did not get off to a flying start as she dismissed Yastika Bhatia in the second over for four. Jess Jonassen got the second success for Capitals, dismissing the dangerous Hayley Matthews in the fourth over to leave Mumbai at 23/2.
Nat Sciver-Brunt guides Mumbai Indians to inaugural WPL title
Delhi bowlers had tightened their grip on Mumbai’s batters, and seeing her side falling behind, captain Harmanpreet Kaur decided to get a move on and began finding boundaries at regular intervals. She added 72 runs for the third wicket off 74 balls with Nat Sciver-Brunt to bring Mumbai back into the game.
However, Harmanpreet’s run-out in the 17th over threw the game wide open. After losing her captain, Sciver-Brunt took the onus to guide her team home. She got good support from Kerr as Mumbai needed 21 off the last two overs. The duo managed to get 16 off the second-last over bowled by Jess Jonassen to bring Mumbai on the brink of scripting history.
Brunt sealed the deal in the final over and helped Mumbai win the inaugural Women’s Premier League as she remained unbeaten on 60 off 55 balls, smacking seven boundaries in her innings.
