Mumbai: Mumbai Indians continued their winning run in the 2023 Women’s Premier League (WPL) as they beat Gujarat Giants (GG) by 55 runs at the Brabourne Stadium – CCI, here Tuesday.
Captain Harmanpreet Kaur’s brilliant fifty (51) and Yastika Bhatia’s (44) impressive opening knock led the way for MI before their bowling attack restricted Gujarat to 107/9.
Chasing 163, the Gujarat Giants got off to a shaky start. Sophia Dunkley was trapped LBW on the very first delivery of the innings.
MI started the powerplay on a high note and that’s exactly how they finished it. Hayley Mathews removed Sabbhineni Meghana and Annabel Sutherland in the same over as the Gujarat Giants were reeling at 34/3 after 6 overs.
Harleen Deol struck three fours to get going but her 22-run knock was put to an end by Issy Wong, who got the GG opener out LBW in the 9th over.
Troubles grew further for GG as they found themselves 6 down at the end of twelve overs. Amelia Kerr dismissed Ashleigh Gardner and Dayalan Hemalatha in quick succession to keep MI on top.
Skipper Sneh Rana was joined by Sushma Verma at the crease with an attempt to rebuild the GG innings. The duo added four fours to the total not before Nat Sciver-Brunt got the vital wicket of the GG skipper, who was out LBW.
Nat Sciver-Brunt scalped her third wicket of the innings courtesy of a sharp catch inside the circle by skipper Harmanpreet Kaur.
GG reached 107/9 at the end of 20 overs as MI clinched another victory to continue their winning run in the season.
Earlier, the Gujarat Giants won the toss and opted to field first. While MI remained unchanged from their previous victory, GG made two changes as Sophia Dunkley and Annabel Sutherland were named in the eleven.
Brief Scores: Mumbai Indians 162/8 (Harmanpreet Kaur 51, Nat Sciver-Brunt 36; Ashleigh Gardner 3/34) beat Gujarat Giants 107/9 (Harleen Deol 22; Nat Sciver-Brunt 3-21, Hayley Matthews 3-23) by 55 runs.
IANS
