Mumbai Indians edged past Gujarat Giants with a nail-biting nine-run victory in the 19th match of the Women’s Premier League (WPL) 2025. With this crucial win, Mumbai bolstered its position on the points table. A victory in their last league clash will secure them the top rank and a direct spot in the finals.
Batting Coach of the Mumbai Indians, Devika Palshikar acknowledged the questions of the media.
On Harmanpreet Kaur’s batting, where she looked in good touch after a couple of scratchy outings, the batting coach said, “If you remember last year’s eliminator, which we lost by fine margins, it was a very close game. After that, actually, we had a very long chat last season and also before starting this season, someone like Nat Sciver Brunt and Harmanpreet Kaur, one of them should be there throughout the innings. She practices a lot—against spin as well as pace.”
For the second time in the season, Amelia Kerr opened the batting for the team, replacing Yastika Bhatia. On opening the batting with Kerr, she said that the kind of opening partnership they were expecting unfortunately did not happen in the first few games. So they thought that Kerr, since she sometimes does not get enough overs, could be utilized better. She used to play that role for her national team, so she was ready. G. Kamilini, she added, still needs some more time on this platform. While she is ready for the role, Kerr is better prepared in terms of experience.
She further mentioned that over the last two years, they had seen Bharti Fulmali and were aware of her potential, but it was not translating onto the bigger platform. However, today, she played really well. Maybe after seeing her game, Simran got a spark and started hitting. While they never felt that the game was slipping away, they knew it was going to be a very close match.
On Hayley Matthews’ all-round performance, the batting coach said that it was an excellent catch in the slips to dismiss the dangerous Ashleigh Gardner. “She is putting in a lot of effort. In the initial few matches, she wasn’t clicking, just like others. They are all great players, but sometimes form is missing. Now, she is putting in extra effort during practice. This is the first time she has seen her taking a lot of slip catches. She is also bowling to all the batters in the nets and working extra on her batting. This year, everyone is determined to perform well and reach the final, which they missed last year.”
On Shabnim Ismail’s bowling and the strategies involved, she said, “Today’s demand was different—maybe in the next match, their quota of overs will change. But today, we wanted those main wickets early. Of course, the net run rate also matters for us now, so we wanted to finish the game a little early and get those key wickets. That’s why she was the right matchup for those batters, and we finished her spell early.”
“Maybe she’s not getting wickets, but her economy is excellent. That gives confidence to the other bowlers. It’s like a batting partnership—similarly, they are doing a bowling partnership. So she contributes a lot. Even if she doesn’t get wickets, her economy is the best, and that gives confidence to the others.”
Head coach of the Gujarat Giants Michael Klinger addressed the questions of the press.
Summing up the game against Mumbai, where they fell agonisingly short, Klinger said, “We were clearly trying to get those runs in 18 overs to finish first, and for them to stick to that right to the end was something I’m really proud of. The whole staff will be proud of that as well. So, to get so close— it would have been nice to get over the line— but from the start of tonight, our aim was to finish on top spot. We had a real- a red-hot crack at it and just missed out, and that’s fine. All our staff and management are really proud of our playing group. We had to get those runs in 18 overs to finish on top—finishing second or third doesn’t make a difference. So, we end up playing Mumbai or Delhi in the knockout game now on the 13th.
“But we gave ourselves a chance to try and get it, and, from the batters up front, they had a crack at it. It didn’t quite work out tonight, but even if we had won that game in the end—which would have been nice just to get a win over Mumbai—we’ve certainly given them a bit of a scare. If we come up against them in the knockout game or in the final, I think they know what we’re about.”
On Bharati Fulmali’s thunderous innings that gave the Giants a glimmer of hope to get their first win against the Mumbai Indians, the head coach said that her role for the team is very much a power game and a finishing role. He mentioned that there have been some games where she has come in with only a little bit to go. The way it turned out in this match, because the team was going hard to try and get 180 while losing early wickets, she got an opportunity to bat for a while.
He highlighted that she showed what she can do and the power that she possesses. He also expressed hope that there may be another opportunity for her to win a game for the team in the knockout or final down the track. He acknowledged that without her performance in this match, the team wouldn’t have gotten as close as they did. He described it as great viewing from the sidelines and praised her hard work in training and improving her game, emphasizing that it was great to see her get the reward that night.
On the team’s batting order and the plans to open with Kashvee Gautam, a new opener to start off the proceedings, the head coach said, “I suppose we had a bit of a free hit at it tonight. Unfortunately, she just hasn’t been in great form so far this tournament, but we spoke to her today. If she keeps working hard and training—an opportunity might come up for her again in either the knockout final or hopefully the final, if we can make it there. We felt Kashvee Gautam had the best technical and power game combined to give that an opportunity, and she played reasonably well. It was a tough ask for her at this level, but I thought she stood up really well.”
Klinger is extremely confident of Gautam’s abilities and has instilled tremendous faith in the young sensation. “I thought she bowled really nicely tonight too. She’s going from strength to strength with her game, and it’s another exposure—playing against someone like Shabnim Ismail, who is one of the fastest bowlers in the world in the women’s game. That’s just another experience for her. She’ll take that forward, and as I’ve mentioned before, she’ll be playing for India, no doubt, very shortly.”
On the fact of whether the team has an overdependence on Ashleigh Gardner and Beth Mooney, he said that if you have a glance at the team, Harleen Deol has played some really good innings. Phoebe Litchfield has chipped in a couple of times in recent matches as well. Different players have taken on finishing roles, whether it was Kashvee Gautam previously or Bharati Fulmali. There have been contributions from various players throughout, which has been the team’s strength this year compared to previous years when they may have relied on.
On the team’s bowling performance, where they conceded a plenty of runs marred by sloppy fielding in the middle, Klinger said, “We started pretty well. I think we kept them to one for 44 off the powerplay. The way they’ve set up, they’ve put all their eggs up front in the top four batters. We know they are very strong players. We felt that if we could break through that top four and get into the middle order early, we’d be in a decent position. But to their credit, they batted really well. I don’t think we missed a chance or anything like that, but if an opportunity comes up to break through that if we play them again, we know we can get stuck into their middle order. That’s certainly something we’ll be looking to do.”
Backing Simran Shaikh, a player who hasn’t been able to do justice to her reputation in domestic matches, the 44-year-old said, “Simran Shaikh played really nicely. We’ve been working with her on her swing and staying on the shot. Probably just the shot she got out on—she tried to overhit it, thinking that we needed a four or six, which we did. We’ll keep working on that with her. She knows when she’s nice and balanced and keeps her head down, she hits the ball as big as anyone. She probably just tried to overhit that one, which is fine. She’ll be right next time.”
Two premier youngsters who have set the stage on fire for the Giants are Kashvee Gautam and spinner Priya Mishra. Applauding Gautam, Klinger said that they had a camp in August with their local players, and he personally hadn’t seen Kashvee Gautam play live until then because she was injured last year. Straight away, he noticed her level of skill with the bat and ball, her athleticism in the field, and her overall athleticism.
As a complete package, she really stood out. He was excited about her potential performance in the tournament even without having seen her up front, but she has exceeded expectations. For such a young player to perform so well under pressure has been fantastic. He is not sure what her role will be in the finals when it comes to the batting order, but she has shown that she can be successful whether playing up top or through the middle. The team is looking forward to hopefully seeing her perform well during the finals.
“With Priya Misha, last year she was probably just missing out because we had a couple of other spinners in our setup. But the exposure she got through the India A series in Australia and then also playing for India, has certainly helped her during this tournament. She’s great around the group—she’s bubbly, and she’s bowling really well. Hopefully, she can play a big part in the finals.”
Loves all things female cricket
