Mumbai Indians’ first defeat in the tournament, UP Warriors won by five wickets
UP Warriors brought Mumbai Indians to a halt in the low-scoring Women’s Premier League by defeating Mumbai Indians by five wickets with three balls to spare in a thrilling match here on Saturday. With the help of three wickets from England left-arm star spinner Sophie Ecclestone, UP Warriors dismissed Mumbai Indians for 127 runs. Ecclestone’s six then achieved this target by scoring 129 runs in five wickets in 19.3 overs and broke Mumbai Indians’ hopes of registering their sixth consecutive win. This is Mumbai Indians’ first defeat in the tournament.
However, Mumbai Indians started well by taking three wickets of UP Warriors in the first seven overs. Captain Alyssa Healy’s wicket was also included in this, which could prove to be dangerous. Amelia Kerr then took the wicket of Tahlia McGrath, on whom UP Warriors’ hopes rested. McGrath made 38 off 25 balls, studded with six fours and a six, before he was caught off the bowling of Kerr. Then Grace Harris (39 runs, seven fours) played responsibly and kept the UP Warriors in the match.
In the 16th over, she hit Amelia Kerr for two consecutive fours but was dismissed on the next ball. He was caught by Wong at long on. Now again the trend of the match was reversed and Mumbai Indians seemed to have the upper hand. But Deepti Sharma (13 not out) and Sophie Ecclestone (16 not out) were at the crease, thanks to both the team scored 123 runs for five wickets in 19 overs. Now five runs were needed in the last six balls.
No runs were scored on the first two balls and on the third ball, Ecclestone hit a six towards the site screen to give his team a third win. Earlier, if Issy Wong had not scored 32 runs in 19 balls, Mumbai’s score would have been very bad. Captain Alyssa Healy’s decision to bowl after winning the toss was justified by the UP bowlers. He bowled disciplined in front of the in-form Mumbai batsmen. Mumbai’s score was 56 for two after ten overs.
Healy Mathews (35) and skipper Harmanpreet Kaur (25) looked to be building a partnership. However, both could not convert good starts into big innings. Harmanpreet was sent to the pavilion by Deepti Sharma and Mathews by Sophie. Earlier, Yastika Bhatia (five) and Nat Sciver Brunt (seven) were also dismissed cheaply. Amelia Kerr (three) could only play five balls and fell victim to Rajeshwari Gaikwad. The Warriors dismissed Mumbai for 78 for five at the start of the 14th over.
Amanjot Kaur also could not leave any impact and became a victim of Sophie. Sophie also got full support from the rest of the bowlers from the other end. India’s Gaikwad took two wickets for 16 runs in four overs. Deepti took two wickets for 34 runs. Mumbai were unchanged for the match while UP brought in Parshvi Chopra in place of Shweta Sehrawat.
