On Friday, defending champions Mumbai Indians beat final yr’s runners-up Delhi Capitals to kick off the second season of the Women’s Premier League. On Sunday, they brushed apart the problem of the inaugural season’s last-placed Gujarat Giants on the M Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bengaluru.
Mumbai Indians batters Harmanpreet Kaur and Amelia Kerr run between the wickets.(PTI)
Set a modest goal of 127, MI batters performed sensibly on a sluggish wicket to chase down the goal with captain Harmanpreet Kaur standing tall and scoring an unbeaten 46. Kaur swatted the one six of the innings to log off the chase. GG bowlers, with too little to defend, did take the match into dying overs however with Kaur properly set, MI had been on target.
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Amelia Kerr made 31 to observe up on her bowling heroics whereas Nat-Sciver Brunt scored 22 to ease MI’s chase.
MI wanted 18.1 overs to get to the goal and stamp their authority and win the sport by 5 wickets to make it two victories in a row, displaying they would be the workforce to beat this time too, GG had been left to introspect. WPL I proved dismal with GG ending final within the factors desk of the five-team match. Though the franchise made as many as 11 modifications to the squad for WPL 2, it did not make a lot distinction going by how they’ve began the brand new season.
Harmanpreet elected to bowl first on successful the toss and Shabnim Ismail trapped Veda Krishnamurthy leg earlier than within the very first over. Asking her to open with skipper Beth Mooney (22) was a shock because the 31-year-old is a middle-order bat and hasn’t performed properly for Karnataka for 2 seasons.
Ismail, the seamer from South Africa, additionally trapped Harleen Doel (8) leg earlier than, to place stress on Mooney and 20-year-old Phoebe Litchfield. While Mooney (24 off 22 balls) stored going, Litchfield, purchased for ₹1 crore, was caught off Nat Sciver-Brunt for seven runs.
Spinner Hayley Mathews got here to the get together and despatched again Dayalan Hemalatha (8), lowering GG to 55/4. At 58/5 in 10.1 overs after Beth Mooney was dismissed, GG did not appear like they might even get to 100. Scotland import Kathryn Bryce (25 not out, 24 balls) and Tanuja Kanwar (28 off 21 balls) bought collectively to supply some stability to the GG innings after which went after the bowling. But younger Kiwi leg-spinner Amelia Kerr claimed the final 4 wickets, beginning with Ashleigh Gardner (15) within the 14th over. Tanuja was one of many two who had been stumped off her bowling as MI regained management.
In the tip, 126 runs weren’t sufficient to check MI. Openers Yastika Bhatia (7) and Hayley Mathews (7) fell cheaply and when Nat Sciver-Brunt (22 off 18 balls) fell, MI had been 49/3 in 7.4 overs. But Harmanpreet (46*, 41 balls) and Amelia Kerr (31 off 25 balls) added 66 runs for the fourth wicket to ease any stress as MI received with 11 balls to spare.
Brief scores: Gujarat Giants 126/9 (Kathryn Bryce 25, Tanuja Kanwar 28, Shabnim Ismail 3/18, Amelia Kerr 4/117); Mumbai Indians 129/5 in 18.1 overs (Harmanpreet Kaur 46*, Amelia Kerr 31, Tanuja Kanwar 2/21). MI received by 5 wickets.
Source: www.hindustantimes.com
