Brabourne Stadium in Mumbai witnessed an outcome that was nearly sure to happen. The 12th match of TATA Women’s Premier League happened between Mumbai Indians and Gujarat Giants, with MI securing a big 55-run victory for their 5th consecutive match.
GG lost their second match in a row, with the previous one coming against Meg Lanning-led DC.
GG’s first bowling strategy proved to be fruitful when Hayley Matthews departed on the third ball of her innings. Yastika Bhatia stood firm on the crease, literally, to score 44 in 37 balls. The confusion led to her run-out in the 12th over. Harmanpreen Kaur put up a total of 51 off 30 balls, bringing yet another half-century in the tournament. A mistimed shot ended in the hands of Harleen Deol. Damage, nonetheless, was done by the skipper.
The score was 160/7 when Kaur left the field with two balls remaining. Nat Sciver-Brunt is credited with sticking around for a strong partnership. The strike rate of 116.13 could surely have been better, but all’s well that ends well. The total came up at 162 with a loss of 8 wickets.
Ashleigh Gardner was second in terms of economy with manageable wickets of 3 important MI players – Matthews, Kaur, and Amanjot Kaur. Sneh Rana displayed leadership with the ball through an economy of 4.25 throughout her four overs. Picking up a single wicket helped since it sent Issy Wong back to the pavilion.
Others to pick a single wicket for GG were Kim Garth and Tanuja Kanwar. Annabel Sunderland, meanwhile, delivered the most expensive economy of 10.50 during her bowling session.
GG came out to chase a massive target but began their innings on a shaky note. Sophia Dunkley departed on the first ball by handing over her LBW to Brunt. Harleen Deol and Sabbhineni Meghana added 34 runs for the wicket before Meghana wrongly played Matthews to send her delivery directly to Amelia Kerr. All the best cricket betting sites speculated a fight under that partnership. The 5th-overturned the table, and what followed next was a series of fall of wickets. Sutherland departed in the same over, followed by Deol in the 8th over.
GG was unable to capitalize on the powerplay, having scored just 34 in 6 overs with a loss of three wickets. That roughly comes to a 5+ run rate. Brunt and Matthews picked three wickets each. Amelia Kerr sent 2 GG players back to the pavilion, and Issy Wong redeemed herself by picking up the wicket of Harleen Deol. Sushma Verma was unbeaten for 18 runs in 19 balls. Mansi Joshi joined her by scoring seven runs in 9 balls, including a single boundary.
MI is at the top of the WPL 2023 Chart with 10 points. GG has slipped down to the 4th position with only 2 points, having won the match that was played against Mandhana-led RCB.
