Earlier on Wednesday, Mumbai's batting suffered in the absence of skipper and in-form batter Harmanpreet Kaur, who had been nursing a niggle
Mumbai Indians' captain Harmanpreet Kaur (L), Royal Challengers Bangalore captain Smriti Mandhana (2R) and Gujarat Giants' captain Beth Mooney (2L) gesture beside the trophy during the opening ceremony (Pic: AFP)
Reigning champions Mumbai Indians earned their third victory of the WPL 2024 season, defeating Royal Challengers Bangalore by three wickets on Saturday. Chasing 131, MI were in no mood to restrain and completed the chase with five overs to spare. arlier on Wednesday, Mumbai's batting suffered in the absence of skipper and in-form batter Harmanpreet Kaur, who had been nursing a niggle, during their WPL 2024 encounter against UP Warriorz, as a laboured 55 off 47 balls from Hayley Matthews guided them to 161 for six. It was a competitive total but the Mumbai bowlers would not have suspected a carnage like the one Navigre and Healy unloaded on them.
Kiran Navigre (57, 31b, 6x4, 4x6) and skipper Alyssa Healy (33, 29 balls) added 94 runs for the opening wicket stand in just 9.1 overs as the Warriorz eased past the 162-run target in 16.4 overs to hand the defending champions their first defeat of the season.
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Mumbai had made a sedate start to their innings and had to wait till the fourth over for the first four. Yastika Bhatia (26, 22b) gave Mumbai the much-needed acceleration when the left-hander hammered 18 runs off left-arm pacer Anjali Sarvani through a sequence of three fours and a six, which was thumped right over the bowler’s head.
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However, Bhatia did not last long as a pull played closer to her body off Harris ended in the hands of Rajeshwari Gayakwad. Matthews too tried to up the tempo and found the occasional big hits amid a slew of mis-time shots. Her four and six off successive balls off left-arm spinner Gayakwad were a reminder to her power and timing when in flow.
Matthews, who was dropped on 43 by Deepti off Harris, reached her fifty in 44 balls but could not kick on. Her effort to clear long-on off Gayakwad did not have elevation and distance as Harris completed an easy catch. A couple of hefty blows in the final stages by Pooja Vastrakar (18, 12b) and Wong helped MI to cross the 150-run mark.
(With agency inputs)
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