MI vs UPW Highlights, WPL 2023 Eliminator: Sciver-Brunt, Wong star as Mumbai Indians defeat UP Warriorz to enter final

A length delivery by Sciver-Brunt, on middle and leg. McGrath whacks it through fine leg for a four!

UPW: 21/2 (4), Target: 183

UPW need 162 from 96 balls.

A full delivery by Wong, on middle and off. Healy clips it to mid-off, where Harmanpreet takes an easy catch! BIG WICKET AND HEALY LEAVES EARLY!

Healy c Harmanpreet b Wong 11 (6)

A tossed up delivery by Ishaque, on off. Sehraway can only glance it to Matthews on the the ring for a catch!

Sehrawat c Matthews b Ishaque 1 (8)

UPW: 8/1 (2), Target: 183

A full delivery by Sciver-Brunt, on middle and leg. Healy clips it over wide mid-on for a four!

UPW: 8/0 (0.5), Target: 183

Healy and Sehrawat to open the chase for UPW. Sciver-Brunt to bowl for MI.

A full delivery by Deepti, around off. Sciver-Brunt clobbers it over long-on for a six! 18 off this over as MI set a target of 183 runs!

MI: 182/4 (20), Target: 183

A good delivery by Ecclestone and Kerr tries to go big! She heaves it to square leg for a catch, and the fielder fumbles but completes it!

Kerr c Sarvani b Ecclestone 29 (19)

MI: 164/4 (19)

A short length delivery by Sharma, around off. Kerr guides it to long on for a single. Mumbai get their 150!

MI: 150/3 (18)

A full delivery by Gayakwad, around off. Sciver-Brunt launches it over mid-on for a four. Then, she smacks her to deep midwicket for another four!

A full delivery by Ecclestone and Sciver-Brunt easily smacks it wide of long-off for a four and gets her fifty!

A full delivery by Harris, on fourth stump. Sciver-Brunt guides it in the gap between cover and point for a four!

MI: 113/3 (14.1)

A full length delivery by Chopra, on off. Sciver-Brunt pulls it away to midwicket for a four! Then, she launches her towards long-off for a six, followed by a slam to square leg for a four!

A tossed up delivery by Chopra, on middle. Sciver-Brunt whacks it straight past the umpire for a four!

MI: 78/2 (10)

A full delivery by Chopra, and Harmanpreet goes for the sweep, but it looks like she misses and it hits her pads. The umpire gives lbw, but Harmanpreet reviews. That was close as UltraEdge confirms that there was bat involved!

A short delivery by Chopra, and on middle and leg. Matthews directs it to the fielder at long-on for a catch!

Matthews c Navgire b Chopra 26 (26)

A length delivery by Deepti, on the pads. Matthews launches it high and Sarvani takes a fantastic catch at deep backward square leg. But the umpire reviews it and the TV umpire thinks that the ball touched the gorund! BUT IT DOESN'T LOOK LIKE THAT! No run!

A length delivery by Ecclestone and Sciver-Brunt guides it off the stumps, and Sarvani chases from fine leg, and misses the ball as she dives. FOUR! MUMBAI GET PAST 50!

A full delivery by Anjali, on the pads. Sciver-Brunt clips it through square leg for a four!

MI: 37/1 (5)

A length delivery by Sarvani, outside off. Yastika hits it straight to Navgire at mid-on and it is a catch!

Yastika c Navgire b Sarvani 21 (18)

A slow delivery by Harris, outside off. Matthews releases her shackles to go down on one knee and slog sweep it over square leg for a six!

A full delivery by Gayakwad, outside off. Bhatia goes inside out over point for a four! SHOT!

A full delivery by Sarvani, and Yastika times it well and connects to get it past sweeper cover for a four!

A slower delivery by Harris, on middle and leg. Yastika guides it to short fine leg. No run.

MI: 6/0 (1)

A full delivery by Harris, floated outside off. Yastika shuffles and then sweeps it through backward square leg for a four!

Matthews and Yastika to open for MI. Harris to bowl the first over for UPW.

MI: Hayley Matthews, Yastika Bhatia(w), Nat Sciver-Brunt, Harmanpreet Kaur(c), Melie Kerr, Pooja Vastrakar, Issy Wong, Amanjot Kaur, Humaira Kazi, Jintimani Kalita, Saika Ishaque

UPW: Alyssa Healy(w/c), Shweta Sehrawat, Simran Shaikh, Tahlia McGrath, Grace Harris, Kiran Navgire, Deepti Sharma, Sophie Ecclestone, Anjali Sarvani, Parshavi Chopra, Soppadhandi Yashasri

After winning the toss, Healy said, "Always nice to win the toss. Going to bowl tonight. Wicket looks a belter, don't think it'll change much. Hope dew comes in later. Last few teams batting first have lost the game. Few changes from the last match. Grace Harris comes back in, can't remember all the others. Unfortunately Shabnim misses out."

Meanwhile, Harmanpreet stated, "When we played last time it was a very good wicket to bat on. Chasing is something everything prefers, would've done the same. But we have a decent side. When we started we were looking positive. But those two games turned the tables. But we want to be positive. Going with the same team."

UPW captian Healy won the toss and opted to bowl vs MI.

Toss is coming up and is scheduled for 7:00 PM IST!

In the second leg of WPL 2023, the average first innings score at DY Patil dropped a lot. MI opened the tournament with a 200+ score in the same venue, and have also got their lowest first-innings total in the same venue, 109/8 vs DC.

Otherwise, weather is good and clear sky.

UPW head coach Lewis spoke about backing uncapped Indian players, and pointed out that it was giving them experience and exposure. 

"There's two parts to my job here - one is to win games of cricket and the other is to develop cricketers. The fact that we were in a position where we're able to put in a 16-year-old legspinner and a 18-year-old fast bowler out into her first game I think should be really celebrated and that's what this competition is all about. This competition is about growing young Indian cricketers and giving them the experience and exposure", Lewis said.

UPW's Ecclestone is currently leading the Purple Cap race with 14 wickets in eight matches. Meanwhile, MI's Kerr (13) is tied-second with teammate Ishaque (13). It is going to be a tight contest for the Purple Cap!

Matthews has been key for MI and wasn't acquired in the auction. In eight matches, she has smacked 232 runs, including an unbeaten 77 knock. She is seventh in the Orange Cap race. She is also fourth in the Purple Cap race with 12 wickets.

Ismail was in hot form in the last league match, despite a defeat for UPW. The South African pacer bagged two wickets, which included the dismissals of Lanning and Jemimah.

McGrath has simply been stunning for UPW, with her dominant batting approach. She is currently second in the Orange Cap race with 295 runs in eight games, only 15 behind leader Lanning. She will be aiming to put another strong batting display, glittered with sixes and fours.

Sciver-Brunt heaped praise on MI's lower middle order for their batting display. She said, "After the five wins everyone was worried that people weren't going to get a bat before we got to the knockout games of the tournament. But yeah, to have Wongy get a couple of scores, Pooja, Melie and all of the girls below in that [batting order], it's really good for our team."

Delhi Capitals finished the league phase on top of the table with 12 points from eight matches (six wins and two defeats), followed by Mumbai Indians in second position with 12 points from eight fixtures (six wins and two defeats). Both teams were level on points, but Lanning's side had a better net run rate, which sent them to the final.

Meanwhile, UP Warriorz finished in third position with eight points from eight matches (four wins and four defeats). They will face Mumbai in the playoffs for a berth in the final. Royal Challengers Bangalore ended up as fourth with four points from eight games (two wins and six defeats) and Gujarat Giants were fifth with four from eight fixtures (two wins and six defeats).

Both sides first met in Match 10, which MI won by eight wickets. Chasing a target of 160 runs, MI reached 164/2 in 17.3 overs, courtesy of an unbeaten half-century by Harmanpreet. Initially, UPW posted 159/6 in 20 overs, with Healy and McGrath grabbing half-centuries. Meanwhile, Ishaque and Kerr took three and two wickets respectively.

Then they faced each other in Match 15, and UPW came out on top this time with a five-wicket victory. Chasing a target of 128 runs, UPW reached 129/5 in 19.3 overs, and Harris (39) and McGrath (38) played crucial knocks. Earlier, MI were bowled out for 127 in 20 overs. Ecclestone took three wickets for UPW, Gayakwad and Deepti bagged two dismissals.

MI: Hayley Matthews, Yastika Bhatia(w), Nat Sciver-Brunt, Harmanpreet Kaur(c), Melie Kerr, Pooja Vastrakar, Issy Wong, Amanjot Kaur, Humaira Kazi, Jintimani Kalita, Saika Ishaque, Chloe Tryon, Heather Graham, Dhara Gujjar, Sonam Yadav, Neelam Bisht, Priyanka Bala

UPW: Alyssa Healy(w/c), Shweta Sehrawat, Simran Shaikh, Tahlia McGrath, Kiran Navgire, Deepti Sharma, Sophie Ecclestone, Anjali Sarvani, Parshavi Chopra, Soppadhandi Yashasri, Shabnim Ismail, Rajeshwari Gayakwad, Grace Harris, Devika Vaidya, Lauren Bell, Shivali Shinde, Laxmi Yadav

Hello and good afternoon everyone! Welcome to our live coverage of today's WPL 2023 Eliminator match between MI and UPW, straight from Navi Mumbai. Stay tuned folks for some exciting cricket!