Mumbai Indians Suffer First Defeat of Season

Earlier, UP Warriorz capitalised on a bowling ‘ masterclass by their spinners to bundle out Mumbai Indians for 127.

Spinner Sophie Ecclestone, Deepti Sharma and Rajeshwari Gayakwad together claimed seven wickets to dismantle the Mumbai Indians’ batting line-up. While Ecclestone picked three, Deepti and Gayakwad got two wickets apiece.

For Mumbai Indians, Hayley Matthews was the top scorer with 35 off 30 hitting one boundary and three maximums, followed by Issy Wong who played a cameo of 32 off 19 balls.

Asked to bat first, Mumbai Indians didn’t have the best powerplay like that of the other matches and scored 31 for the loss of one wicket.

Warriorz’s bowlers came out all guns blazing as they didn’t let the MI batters stay long on the crease as wickets kept falling at regular intervals.

After getting a lifeline in the fourth over, Yastika fell for 7 as he scoop it over fine but instead missed the ball, which ended up flattening the leg stump.

Sophie Ecclestone got Nat Sciver-Brunt’s leg before in the eighth over for cheap. Halfway through, Harmanpreet Kaur-led side was 56/2 after 10 overs.

Ecclestone broke MI’s backbone in the 11th over, sending the dangerous-looking Mathews back for 35. MI suffered another blow in the 13th over as Rajeshwari Gayakwad trapped Amelia Kerr cheaply for 3.

The next over, skipper Harmanpreet became Deepti’s victim as she danced down the track for a big heave-ho over the leg side, targeting the longer part towards deep mid-wicket, but didn’t get enough elevation and Simran Shaikh took an easy catch near the fence.

Ecclestone removed Amanjot Kaur for 5 in the 16th over, before Gayakwad picked up her second on the last ball of her spell in the form of Humairaa Kaazi (4).

In the penultimate over, Dhara Gujjar (3) fell to the bowling of Deepti, who went round the wicket and fired a quicker delivery. Gujjar was looking for some quick runs and played a slog sweep but missed and the stumps got uprooted.

Issy Wong dug deep to add some crucial runs on the board, she hammered it in front of square on the leg side for a four before getting run out by Deepti’s direct hit at the striker’s end.

Deepti was at her best as she inflicted another run-out on the final delivery of the inning, sending Saika Ishaque back to the hut for a duck.