Sciver-Brunt’s all-round show seal’s MI’s easy win
The 2023 champions eased to an eight-wicket win over UP Warriorz in Bengaluru to top the Women’s Premier League table
In-form Nat Sciver-Brunt was once again the star act as Mumbai Indians produced a dominant performance to defeat UP Warriorz by eight wickets in the Women’s Premier League at the M Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bengaluru on Wednesday.
Sciver-Brunt (75*) was essentially the aggressor in a match-winning 133-run stand, she had picked up 3/18 which proved to be vital in bowling out UPW for a modest 142/9. In the decisive second-wicket partnership during the chase, Hayley Matthews (59) was happy to play second fiddle to the English all-rounder before she took charge, being dismissed on the verge of victory.
It was the Harmanpreet Kaur-led team’s third win in four matches. MI head the table in the five-team tournament.
Defending their modest total, Warriorz started strongly as skipper Deepti Sharma (1/25) dismissed Yastika Bhatia for nought. However, they struggled to crawl back into the match once the Sciver-Brunt-Matthews partnership started to flourish. MI were slow to start but cruised home with three overs to spare.
Sophie Ecclestone (1/29) dismissed Matthews in the 17th over, but with only four runs left to get.
Sciver-Brunt has been in excellent form in the WPL, particularly with the bat. With scores of 80*, 57, 42 and 75*, she is currently the leading run-scorer with 254 runs at an average of 127.
Earlier, Aussie all-rounder Grace Harris, promoted to the top of the order, made an impact for UPW with a racy 45 off 26. With Vrinda Dinesh (33), she stitched a 79-run partnership after Kiran Navgire (1) was dismissed in the first over by Sciver-Brunt.
The partnership was perhaps the only highlight of the innings as the rest of the batting fizzled out, the innings finishing on 142/9. Shweta Sehrawat (19) and Uma Chhetry (13*) were the only other batters to get into double digits.
UPW scored 62 runs in the Powerplay and Harris was at her aggressive best. She got a reprieve on 44 when Shabnim Ismail dropped her at long-on off Jintimani Kalita (0/12). But she couldn’t capitalise as she fell in the next over to Amelia Kerr’s leg-break (1/24).
Neither Deepti Sharma (4) nor hard-hitting all-rounder Chinelle Henry (7) turned up. Warriorz’s slide had begun after Harris’ dismissal and continued as Sciver-Brunt, Ismail and Sanskriti Gupta (2/11) caused the middle order to crumble.
Against a formidable Mumbai Indians line-up, the sub-par target was always going to be tough to defend and it proved to be an easy chase for the 2023 winners.