Navi Mumbai: With a blazing half-century from Harmanpreet Kaur (71 not out) and useful contributions from Amanjot Kaur (40) and Nicola Carey (38 not out), Mumbai Indians halted Gujarat Giants’ victory streak with a seven-wicket win in the Women’s Premier League on Tuesday and secured their eighth consecutive win against Gujarat.
Gujarat scored a strong score of 192 runs for five wickets in 20 overs, thanks to Georgia Wareham’s brilliant innings of 43 not out and her explosive 56-run partnership with Bharti Fulmali (36 not out). But thanks to the captaincy innings of its captain, Mumbai won by scoring 193 runs for three wickets in 19.2 overs. Player of the Match: Harman hit seven fours and two sixes in his innings of 43 balls. With this, Harman scored her 10th half-century in WPL and became the second batsman in the history of the tournament to complete 1000 runs. Harman took full advantage of the three lives he got and scored a match-winning half-century.
In reply, Mumbai Indians lost Kamalini early, but Hayley Mathews gave the team early momentum by getting off to a flying start before being dismissed. The chase was stabilized by a vital third wicket partnership, when Amanjot and Harmanpreet added 72 valuable runs. Sophie Devine broke that partnership in the 13th over, dismissing Amanjot at a crucial juncture. Nicola Carey came next and after a cautious start, found her rhythm with some well-timed fours.
Harmanpreet, on the other hand, handled the innings like a true captain, scoring a brilliant fifty and keeping Mumbai in the match. The fielders gave Harmanpreet some chances and she made Gujarat Giants pay for those mistakes, giving Mumbai the win in the last over. Earlier, Wareham hit four fours and one six in his unbeaten 43 runs off 33 balls, while Fulmali hit three fours and three sixes in his unbeaten 36 runs off just 15 balls. Both of them scored 56 runs in just 24 balls in an unbeaten partnership for the sixth wicket.
23 runs were scored in the last over. Fulmali hit a six on the last ball. Gujarat Giants made another big score. After scoring more than 200 runs in the first two matches, the Giants were unable to find the same rhythm today. They lost a wicket early when Sophie Devine edged Ismail’s ball, making the start a bit slow. Beth Mooney (33) and Kanika Ahuja (35) managed the innings by making a good partnership of 42 runs in 23 balls, but both could not convert their good start into a big score.
Mumbai Indians came back into the match by taking timely wickets in the middle overs and took the momentum on their side, but the partnership of Phulmali and Wareham again shifted the momentum in favor of Gujarat. The decision to retire Ayushi Soni proved to be a master stroke as Phulmali scored 36 runs in 15 balls. Captain Ashley Gardner contributed 20 runs and Soni contributed 11 runs.
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