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UP Warriorz (UPW) beat Mumbai Indians (MI) on Saturday in Match 15 of the Women’s Premier League (WPL) at the DY Patil Stadium in Navi Mumbai.
Sophie Ecclestone (3/15) was the stand-out player for the UPW as she took three wickets and scored an unbeaten 17-ball 16 to ensure UPW chase down the target. All-rounders – Tahlia McGrath (38 off 25) and Grace Harris (39 off 28) then made vital contributions with the bat to help the UPW register a five-wicket over MI, who lost their first game of the season after winning five games on the trot.
In a nutshell, it was a game where the spinners dominated for the UPW as they applied the breaks on run-scoring and picked up seven out of the total 10 wickets.
With this defeat, MI lost their first game in the tournament after winning the first five matches in a row.
Defending a target of 128, MI were off to a great start as all-rounder Hayley Matthews removed opener Devika Vaidya (1) caught at first slip on the first ball of the second over, with skipper Harmanpreet Kaur taking a brilliant one-handed catch.
However, MI didn’t have a great day on the field as they dropped a couple of catches on consecutive balls off Nat Sciver-Brunt to give lifelines to UPW captain Alyssa Healy and power hitter Kiran Navgire.
Despite getting a life, Healy failed to make full use of the opportunity as she was trapped LBW on 8 off 10 by Issy Wong in the sixth over. Initially, the on-field umpire gave it not out and MI went for the review as the replays showed three reds with the ball hitting the leg stump. On the very next ball, Wong was close to getting another wicket but wicket-keeper Yastika Bhatia dropped McGrath to give her a life as MI were 27/2 at the end of the Powerplay.
On the first ball of the 7th over, Navgire was then caught behind on 12 off 16 off a ball down the leg side from Nat Sciver-Brunt. However, McGrath and Grace Harris then steadied the ship for MI by stitching a crucial partnership of 44 runs off 34 balls for the fourth wicket. McGrath was the aggressor of the two while Harris played the supporting role. McGrath contributed 33 runs in the partnership with the help of a four and a six off Wong and then smashing left-arm spinner Saika Ishaque three fours in her over.
MI desperately needed a wicket and leg-spinner Amelia Kerr provided the breakthrough that they were looking for as she dismissed McGrath caught and bowled off a wrong one on 38 (25). After her dismissal, UPW were 71/4 in 11.5 overs.
Harris then turned the momentum back in UPW’s camp as she hammered six fours with to bring the asking rate below 6 runs per over. However, Kerr provided another breakthrough to MI by removing Harris caught at long after getting hit for consecutive fours. Harris scored 39 off 28 balls with the help of seven fours before getting dismissed.
With the equation down to 23 off 26, Deepti and Ecclestone got together and soaked all the pressure to ensure that they finish the match in the last over without making any errors. With 5 needed off the last four balls, Ecclestone finished it off in style by smashing a six over long-on off Wong as UPW won the match by five wickets with three balls to spare.
Earlier, after winning the toss and electing to bowl first, UPW made one change to their XI as Shweta Sehrawat was replaced by the debutant Parshavi Chopra while MI went with the same winning combination.
The UP Warriorz bowlers bowled tight overs in the powerplay to keep the MI openers in control. In the first 22 balls, the UPW didn’t concede a single boundary. Opener Matthews then provided some relief to MI as she smashed a couple of sixes over the off side to Harris.
She was in no mood to stop as she then hit left-arm pacer Anjali Sarvani one over mid-off for a four. Just two balls later, the left-arm pacer bounced back as she cleaned up Bhatia on 7 (15), who was struggling to get going at the other end. MI scored their lowest score of 31/1 in the powerplay as the UPW bowlers kept tight control of them.
The pressure of run-scoring was mounting on MI as the UPW bowlers were not giving any freebies. Sciver-Brunt (5) then tried to release the pressure but was trapped lbw off Ecclestone, who struck in her first over.
At the halfway stage, MI were 56/2. In the 11th over, Ecclestone then took her second wicket by removing the dangerous Matthews on 35 off 30, who was caught by the keeper after the ball took the top edge of her bat while she tried to play a pull shot.
Skipper Harmanpreet then tried to shift gears as she hit three fours but the spinners continued to give blows to MI as left-arm spinner Rajeshwari Gayakwad removed Kerr (3), while Deepti took the big wicket of Harmanpreet caught at deep mid-wicket on 25 off 22. Just one ball earlier, Harmanpreet was given out caught behind which she reviewed successfully.
Amanjot Kaur (5) then got deceived in the air and ended up yorking herself to a full delivery off Ecclestone, who took her third wicket. Gayakwad then cleaned up Humaira Kazi (4) on the last ball of the 17th over to reduce MI to 103/7. Deepti then took her second wicket by cleaning up Dhara Gujjar on 3.
Ecclestone gave just 4 runs in the 19th over, but Wong then played a late cameo of 32 off 19 balls, hitting four 4s and one six to take MI to 127. MI garnered 11 runs in the last over with the help of a four and a six by Wong, while Deepti affected two brilliant run-outs.
However, the score wasn’t enough as MI never got any momentum going and kept losing wickets at regular intervals. Their highest partnership was the 30-run opening stand between Matthews and Bhatia. For UPW, Ecclestone was the pick of the bowlers as she took 3/15 from her four overs, while Gayakwad (2/16) and Deepti (2/35) took two wickets each.
All-rounder Deepti Sharma was given the Player of the Match award for picking 2/35, affecting 2 run-outs and scoring an unbeaten 13 off 14 balls.
Brief Scores: UP Warriorz 129/5 in 19.3 overs (Grace Harris 39, Tahlia McGrath 38; Amelia Kerr 2/22) beat Mumbai Indians 127/10 in 20 overs (Hayley Matthews 35, Issy Wong 32; Sophie Ecclestone 3/15, Rajeshwari Gayakwad 2/16) by 5 wickets.
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