Easy did it for Mumbai Indians. The defending champions put up a strong show with bat and ball to comprehensively defeat Gujarat Giants by five wickets in match 3 of Women's Premier League 2024 at the M Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bengaluru. (Full Coverage | Schedule And Points Table)
Chasing a modest target of 127 runs, Mumbai romped home with 11 balls to spare. Captain Harmanpreet Kaur stayed unbeaten on 46 and Amelia Kerr (31) supported her ably to make sure their team comfortably got over the line, despite a couple of quick wickets falling towards the end.
With the facile win, Mumbai climbed to the top of the table with four points from their two games so far.
Earlier, it was a golden combination of the young and the experienced that did wonders for Mumbai. Veteran seamer Shabnim Ismail and 23-year-old leggie Amelia Kerr came up with superb spells, helping the title holders restrict Gujarat Giants to a below-par total of 126 for nine.
Ismail has bid adieu to international cricket, but she demonstrated on Sunday that the fire within has not diminished. She opened the bowling and dislodged Veda Krishnamurthy and Harleen Deol in the Power Play. Veda and Harleen were both trapped leg before with deliveries that moved back in sharply, and at pace. Another seamer Nat-Sciver Brunt sent back Phoebe Litchfield in the sixth over as the Giants ended the Power Play at 43 for three.
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But their innings slumped further as Giants could not find a boundary in the next 44 balls, and to compound their troubles, also lost wickets frequently.
Captain Beth Mooney, who opened the innings and withstood the early flurry of wickets, tried to get into some semblance of rhythm but her attempted reverse-lap off Ismail's bowling ended up in the hands of wicket-keeper Yastika Bhatia.
Kerr dismissed Ashleigh Gardner and Sneh Rana in the space of two balls in the 14th over as Gujarat struggled for momentum and runs.
It was only due to an eighth-wicket partnership between Kathryn Bryce (25 not out) and Tanuj Kanwar (28) worth 48 runs, that Gujarat could cross the 120-run mark and put up a respectable total. But it proved woefully inadequate, eventually.
