The UP Warriorz got off the mark at the 2024 Women’s Premier League (WPL) after beating Mumbai Indians by 7 wickets at Bengaluru’s M. Chinnaswamy Stadium on Wednesday.
Chasing 162 runs for victory, skipper Alyssa Healy and Kiran Navgire got the Warriorz off to a blazing start, bringing up 50 in four overs and put MI on the backfoot.
Navgire, promoted to open for the first time in the tournament after Vrinda Dinesh injured her shoulder while fielding, was the more aggressive of the two batters, taking the aerial route on more than one occasion, bringing up her half-century in 25 balls.
Also Read: MI vs UPW Match Highlights
She fell after reaching the landmark (57 runs off 31 balls), stumped by Yastika Bhatia off Amelia Kerr, but her blistering knock had ensured that considerable damage had already been done.
MI clawed their way back into the match when Issy Wong removed the Australian duo of Tahlia McGrath (1 off 4) and Healy (33 off 29) to throw open the match at just over the halfway mark of the chase.
But Grace Harris (38* runs off 17 balls) and Deepti Sharma (27* runs off 20 balls) ensured that there were no further hiccups, putting on 61 runs for the fourth wicket to help the Warriorz reached the target with 21 balls to spare and register a much-needed first win of the tournament.
Earlier, a 47-ball 55 from Hayley Matthews and cameos from Yastika Bhatia (26 runs off 24 balls) and Amelia Kerr (23 runs off 16 balls) helped MI reach 161 for 6 in 20 overs.
Bhatia and Matthews were kept quiet during the initial overs but the floodgates opened when the former took 18 runs of Anjali Sarvani’s third over to put the pressure back on the opposition bowlers.
Matthews got a life when she was dropped on 23 but Warriorz struck in the same over when Bhatia smashed a pull off Harris’s bowling straight into the hands of Rajeshwari Gayakwad at short mid-wicket.
The responsibility of posting a competitive score fell on the shoulders of Mathews, who had been having a slow tournament until then, and stand-in captain Nat Sciver-Brunt, who set about a composed rebuild against the spin-heavy Warriorz unit, milking the ones and the twos with the occasional boundary in-between.
Matthews received a second life, when she was dropped by Deepti on 43 and continued to put pressure on the slow bowlers during the middle phase of the innings. But a mix-up between the pair sent Sciver-Brunt (19 runs off 14 balls) back to the pavilion.
The Warriorz finally saw the back of Mathews (55 runs off 47 balls) a few overs later, caught at long on off Gayakwad’s bowling. Kerr and Pooja Vastrakar tried to drive the inning forward, but after adding 29 runs the former fell lbw to Deepti.
Wong, playing her first match of the tournament, gave MI late impetus to set the Warriorz 162 runs for victory.
Spectator enters field of play
A spectator entered the field of play during MI’s last over of the innings, with what looked like RCB jersey. Warriorz skipper Alyssa Healy tried to stop the fan, who was later taken away by security personnel from the venue.
Harman, Ismail miss out due to niggles
Earlier, MI missed the services of regular captain Harmanpreet Kaur and pace spearhead Shabnim Ismail, both of whom were rested due to niggles. Nat Sciver-Brunt led in Kaur’s place while Ismail’s spot went to Wong.
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