Mumbai Indians, who are the most successful team in the IPL, have taken their first step in the Women’s Premier League (WPL). The team, which was excited in batting, bowling and fielding, won against Gujarat Giants by a huge margin of 144 runs. Batting first, Mumbai scored 207 runs for the loss of 5 wickets in the stipulated 20 overs. Chasing the target of 208 runs, Gujarat lost 9 wickets in 15.1 overs and were limited to 64 runs. Gujarat could not give even minimum competition to the Mumbai bowlers.
Gujarat’s story was decided in the first over in breaking the huge target set by Mumbai. In the first over, the captain of the team withdrew due to an injury and the batsmen of the team also came and went like this. Mumbai bowlers took wickets regularly and damaged Gujarat.
Mumbai players excelled in both batting and bowling and entertained the fans, but Gujarat players failed in all departments and left the fans disappointed. In batting, the team’s batsman Hemalatha (29 off 23 balls, 1 four, 2 sixes) played a bit better. It is noteworthy that out of the remaining ten, except for the last row batter Monica Patel (10), the remaining 8 could not score in double figures. In addition, three of the team were ducked.
An unexpected shock hit Gujarat in the first over in the pursuit of a huge target. In the fourth ball of the first over bowled by Mumbai bowler Natalie Seever, Gujarat skipper Beth Mooney played a shot towards cover point. She started to run and stopped there as her leg sprained. With this she joined the pavilion. She never came back to the crease after that.
Came.. Went..
Harleen Deol, who came in one down, got out without opening the run account. One wicket for one run in the first over. Wang made the second over. Offensive Gardner (0) was also out on the second ball of that over. Gardner.. gave Mathews a catch at first slip. Seaver bowled Andhra girl Sabbineni Meghna (2) off the third ball of the third over. Gujarat lost their 3rd wicket for 8 runs. Sutherland (6) was also clean bowled in the fourth ball of the fifth over by Saika Ishaq. Despite the end of the first power play, Gujarat scored 17 runs for the loss of 4 wickets.
Saika Ishaq also clean bowled Verham (8) off the fifth ball of her second over. Thus, half of Gujarat’s wickets fell. Next, Sneh Rana (1) was sent back lbw by Kerr. On the fourth ball of her seventh over, Tanuja Kanwar (0) also took a catch to Seaver and reached the pavilion. Mansi Joshi (6) who prevented the fall of wickets for a while was dismissed by Ishaq as an lb.
Among the Mumbai bowlers, Saikia Ishaq got four wickets while Natalie Seaver and Amelia Kerr got two wickets each. Issy Wang took a wicket.
Batting first, Mumbai made a huge score of 207 runs for the loss of five wickets in the allotted 20 overs. The team’s captain Harmanpreet Kaur (65 off 30 balls, 14 fours) along with opener Healy Mathews (47 off 31 balls, 3 fours, 4 sixes) and Amelia Kerr (45 not out from 24 balls, 6 fours, 1 six) were excited.
