The much-awaited day, a typical festive season for a cricket fanatic is finally here as the 2nd edition of the Women’s Premier League is all set to get underway with a high-octane clash between the two finalists of the Inaugural edition of the WPL.
The defending champions led by skipper Harmanpreet Kaur will be up against the Delhi Capitals led by skipper Meg Lanning. The Mumbai Indians skipper Harmanpreet Kaur won the toss and opted to field first. After being inserted to bat first, the Delhi Capitals got off to a poor start losing their destructive opener Shafali Verma in the 3rd over of the innings. The Mumbai Indians new recruit Shabnim Ismail provided the first breakthrough for her side.
Alice Capsey joined skipper Meg Lanning at the crease and the duo stitched a crucial 64-run partnership for the 2nd wicket before Nat Sciver-Brunt picked up the big wicket of the opposition skipper Meg Lanning to provide the 2nd breakthrough for Mumbai Indians. Jemimah Rodrigues joined Alice Capsey at the crease and the duo put in a situation to rebuild the innings. The duo took the Delhi Capitals in a position for strength with another massive 74-run partnership for the 3rd wicket before Amelia Kerr came back and provided the much-needed breakthrough by dismissing Alice Capsey.
Jemimah Rodrigues soon followed her way back to the pavilion to provide the 4th breakthrough for Mumbai Indians. The Delhi Capitals eventually managed to get over the 170-run mark as they ended up with a total of 171/5 in their quota of overs courtesy of a cameo (9-ball 16) from Marizanne Kapp towards the end. It is the highest total against Mumbai Indians in the WPL surpassing UP Warriorz total of 159/6. Alice Capsey (75 off 53 balls), Jemimah Rodrigues (42 off 24 balls), and skipper Meg Lanning (31 off 25 balls) were the top performers with the bat for Delhi Capitals. Shabnim Ismail (1/24), and Nat Sciver-Brunt (2/33) were the top performers with the ball for Mumbai Indians.
Chasing a target of 172, Mumbai Indians got off toa similar start losing the wicket of Hayley Matthews on the 2nd ball of the run chase, she departed for a duck. Marizanne Kapp provided the first breakthrough for Delhi Capitals. Nat Sciver-Brunt joined wicket-keeper batter Yastika Bhatia at the crease and the duo led the recovery with a 50-run partnership for the 2nd wicket before Arundhati Reddy cleaned up Nat Sciver-Brunt to provide the 2nd breakthrough for her side.
Harmanpreet Kaur joined wicket-keeper batter Yastika Bhatia at the crease and the duo stitched another crucial 56-run partnership for the 3rd wicket before Arundhati Reddy provided the much-needed breakthrough by dismissing Yastika Bhatia to provide the 3rd breakthrough for Mumbai Indians. Amelia Kerr joined skipper Harmanpreet Kaur at the crease and the duo stitched another crucial 44-run partnership for the 4th wicket before Shikha Pandey picked up the wwicket of Amelia Kerr to provide the 4th breakthrough for her side.
Thriller at Chinnaswamy! 🤩
Mumbai Indians pick their 1st win of the season in some fashion. 🔥#CricketTwitter #WPL2024 pic.twitter.com/kn0pDeG84J
— Female Cricket (@imfemalecricket) February 23, 2024
Mumbai Indians eventually got over the line in a nervy run chase by four wickets. Wicket-keeper batter Yastika Bhatia (57 off 45 balls), Harmanpreet Kaur (55 off 34 balls), and Amelia Kerr (24 off 18 balls) were the top performers with the bat for Mumbai Indians. Arundhati Reddy (2/27), and Marizanne Kapp (1/32) were the top performers with the ball for Delhi Capitals.
Skipper Harmanpreet Kaur was awarded the Player of the Match for her match-winning performance (55 off 34 balls) with the bat. The defending champions kickstart their title defence on a winning note by a 4-wicket win over DC.
5 needed in 1 ball 😲
Debutant Sajeevan Sajana smashes a SIX. ✅
Mumbai Indians win a thriller 💙#CricketTwitter #WPL2024 pic.twitter.com/V2tIZwqesL
— Female Cricket (@imfemalecricket) February 23, 2024
Loves all things female cricket