All-round Nat Sciver-Brunt, alongside Shabnim Ismail and Saika Ishaque, choke the UP Warriorz as they bounce back to winning ways.
The UP Warriorz led by skipper Alyssa Healy suffered a 23-run defeat against Royal Challengers Bangalore in their last game. Mumbai Indians led by skipper Harmanpreet Kaur also suffered a 29-run defeat in their last game against the Delhi Capitals. The head-to-head record between both sides is 2-2.
The UP Warriorz clinched the game by 7 wickets in round one of this year’s edition of the WPL. Kiran Navgire was awarded the Player of the Match for her brilliant performance (57 off 31 balls) with the bat, the last time these two sides came up against each other this season. The Mumbai Indians skipper Harmanpreet Kaur won the toss and opted to bat first. Mumbai Indians got off to a poor start, losing both their openers inside the powerplay. Chamari Athapaththu provided both breakthroughs for the UP Warriorz.
Skipper Harmanpreet Kaur joined Nat Sciver-Brunt at the crease and the duo stitched a much-needed 59-run partnership for the 3rd wicket before Rajeshwari Gayakwad cleaned up Nat Sciver-Brunt to provide the 3rd breakthrough for her side. Amelia Kerr joined skipper Harmanpreet Kaur at the crease and the duo stitched a 28-run partnership for the 4th wicket before Saima Thakor picked up the big wicket of the opposition skipper Harmanpreet Kaur to provide the 4th breakthrough for the UP Warriorz.
Amanjot Kaur soon followed her back to the pavilion to provide the 5th breakthrough for UP Warriorz. Sajeevan Sajana joined Amelia Kerr at the crease and the duo stitched a crucial 43-run partnership for the 6th wicket before Amelia Kerr was found short of her crease to provide the 6th breakthrough for the UP Warriroz. Mumbai Indians eventually ended up with a total of 160/6 in their quota of overs. Nat Sciver-Brunt (45 off 31 balls), Amelia Kerr (39 off 23 balls), Sajeevan Sajana (22 off 14 balls), and skipper Harmanpreet Kaur (33 off 30 balls) were the top performers with the bat for Mumbai Indians.
Chamari Athapaththu (4-0-27-2), Deepti Sharma (4-0-31-1), and Saima Thakor (2-0-19-1) were the top performers with the ball for UP Warriroz. Chasing a target of 161, UP Warriorz got off to a horrible start, losing their top order inside the powerplay, the victims also included the wicket of their skipper Alyssa Healy to push the Warriorz on the back foot early on in the run chase.
Deepti Sharma joined Grace Harris at the crease and the duo stitched a much-needed 26-run partnership for the 4th wicket before Saika Ishaque cleaned up Grace Harris to end her struggling stay at the crease, providing the 4th breakthrough for Mumbai Indians. Shweta Sehrawat joined Deepti Sharma at the crease and the duo stitched a 17-run partnership for the 5th wicket before Pooja Vastrakar cleaned up Shweta Sehrawat to provide the 5th breakthrough for her side.
The UP Warriroz suffered a couple of wickets in quick succession as they found themselves in deep trouble at 69/7 in the 15th over of the run chase. Uma Chetry joined Deepti Sharma at the crease and the duo stitched a crucial 37-run partnership for the 8th wicket before Saika Ishaque came back and picked up the wicket of Uma Chetry to provide the 8th breakthrough for Mumbai Indians.
The UP Warriorz were eventually restricted to 118/9 in their quota of overs, falling short of the target by 42 runs. Deepti Sharma (53 off 36 balls), and Shweta Sehrawat (17 off 15 balls) were the top performers with the bat for UP Warriroz. Shabnim Ismail (4-0-6-1), Saika Ishaque (4-0-27-3), and Nat Sciver-Brunt (2-0-14-2) were the top performers with the ball for Mumbai Indians.
Nat Sciver-Brunt was awarded the Player of the Match for her outstanding all-round performance, scoring (45 off 31 balls) with the bat and returning with match figures (2-0-14-2) with the ball, helping Mumbai Indians get back to winning ways.