The inaugural season of the Women’s Premier League (WPL) 2023 saw its penultimate match end up being a horrid night for UP Warriorz as they took on Mumbai Indians. Both teams were keen on making their way into the final of the tournament, where they will take on Delhi Capitals for the coveted WPL title.
Batting first, Harmanpreet Kaur’s MI notched up 182 runs on the board thanks to a fabulous, unbeaten knock by Nat Sciver-Brunt. The fabulous first innings was followed up by an equally impressive performance with the ball for MI as they made their way into the summit clash of the inaugural WPL. Following their win, let us have a look at the talking points from the game and who said what.
Nat Sciver-Brunt’s excellence:
After Yastika Bhatia and Hayley Matthews were dismissed early, Nat Sciver-Brunt’s resilience was integral for MI as they managed to score 182 runs in the first innings. Following her excellent knock, Sciver-Brunt even took a wicket and conceded 21 runs in three overs to seal the win for MI.
Issy Wong masterclass:
After MI’s excellent performance with the bat, it came down to the bowlers to stop UPW from chasing the target and making their way to the inaugural WPL final. It was the performance of Issy Wong that was key for MI in the eliminator. In the four overs she bowled, Wong just conceded 15 runs and took four wickets and bagged the tournament’s first hat-trick to propel MI into the tournament final.
Kiran Navgire’s resilience:
As UP Warriorz continued to lose wickets one after another, Kiran Navgire and her knock of 43 runs gave a slimmer of hope to the side. The fighting knock went in vain, as she could not propel an unlikely UPW to victory.
Winning skipper Harmanpreet Kaur said:
We have a decent bowling wicket, we know anyone can come and take wickets. Wongy is always excited to bowl, today she was always there and very happy. She is someone who can take us through any game [on Nat Sciver-Brunt]. We have young girls doing well on the field, we have always spoken about getting some run-outs and that was a crucial point in the game. They have a very positive energy and are happy to have them. They are a very good side and we just want to enjoy the final.
Losing skipper Alyssa Healy said:
We catch Sciver on 6, the game could be ours. We backed ourselves with ball in hand. Can’t comment too much, will probably be fined (the catch from Anjali that was given not out). Anjali claimed it, and it looked good in real time. Our strength in this whole tournament has been we’ve hung in there. We haven’t played our best cricket. I’m really proud of this group. No one was talking about the UP Warriors (as favourites). The two best teams have made it to the final. I’m proud of our group to have a crack. It’s not all about lifting the trophy. Some areas we’ll need to fix up. What we’ve got is something special at our franchise. There’s so many talented players in our group and Kiran is one of them.
Player of the Match Nat Sciver-Brunt said:
The crowd was incredible tonight. The noise when Wongy took the hat-trick was incredible, if we could bottle that energy up and take it, it would be great. The wicket tonight was very nice for batting. We needed a good score on the board to defend it. It was very enjoyable bating out there, surprised myself with a few shots actually. I have said thank you for dropping me. She would usually take those, luck of the draw fortunately. It swung nicely up here, really good fun. Yeah absolutely and really excited to make it to the final and hopefully enjoy yourselves. Hopefully, start on 0 and see how we go from there.
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