Tags: Womens Premier League 2023,
Delhi Capitals Women vs Mumbai Indians Women
Published on: Mar 27, 2023
Mumbai Indians (MI) defeated Delhi Capitals (DC) by seven wickets in the Women’s Premier League (WPL) 2023 final at the Brabourne Stadium in Mumbai on Sunday, March 26. Batting first after winning the toss, Delhi could only put up 131 for 9 on the board, a target Mumbai chased down in 19.3 overs
Issy Wong (3/42), Hayley Matthews (3/5) and Amelia Kerr (2/18) excelled with the ball as MI held DC to a below-par total in the final. Wong picked up the first three wickets to fall, all of them off full tosses. There was some controversy on Shafali Verma’s (11 off 4) wicket as Delhi felt that height was an issue. However, the third umpire ruled in Mumbai’s favor as Delhi lost the review. Alice Capsey (0) and Jemimah Rodrigues (9) were the other two batters to be dismissed off full tosses by Wong.
Marizanne Kapp was caught behind off Kerr for 18 off 21, while Delhi captain Meg Lanning (35 off 29) was run out after a yes-no situation with Jess Jonassen. Arundhati Reddy (0) and Jonassen (2) also fell cheaply after which Matthews sent back Minnu Mani (1) and Taniya Bhatia (0) to reduce Delhi to 79/9. A brilliant last-wicket stand of 52 between Shikha Pandey (27 not out off 17) and Radha Yadav (27 not out off 12) gave Delhi something to bowl at.
In the chase, Mumbai also lost their first wicket to a full toss as Yastika Bhatia (4) fell to Yadav. Jonassen then had Matthews (13), caught at mid-on. Harmanpreet Kaur (37 off 39) and Nat Sciver-Brunt (60 not out off 55), then added 72 runs for the third wicket to put Mumbai in good position to push for victory.
After Harmanpreet was run-out going for a very risky single, Sciver-Brunt and Kerr (14 not out off 8) joined forces to take Mumbai past the finish line. The penultimate over bowled by Jonassen turned the match completely in MI’s favor. Three boundaries came as the duo took 16 runs. Sciver-Brunt then slammed the winning runs by guiding Capsey over the keeper for a boundary.
While Sciver-Brunt was named Player of the final, Lanning won the Orange Cap and Matthews the Purple Cap as well as Most Valuable Player. Harmanpreet won the award for Catch of the Season, while Bhatia won the Emerging Player of the Year award.
–By A Cricket Correspondent
