Mumbai Indians captain Harmanpreet Kaur celebrates with teammates their win in the Women’s Premier League Twenty20 cricket closing match towards Delhi Capitals in Mumbai on March 26, 2023.
| Photo Credit: AP
Mumbai Indians captain Harmanpreet Kaur feels that focussing on profitable crucial moments of matches and never the last word prize labored effectively for her aspect, as they lifted the inaugural Women’s Premier League trophy after a seven-wicket win over Delhi Capitals in the ultimate right here.
MI chased down the goal of 132 with three balls to spare in the low-scoring however tense summit conflict on the Brabourne Stadium on Sunday, with England all-rounder Nat Sciver-Brunt taking part in sheet-anchor with an unbeaten 60.
“(Right from start) we were talking about winning the moments. We were not looking for the trophy, we were looking to win all the moments. (We thought) if we win the moments, the trophy will come automatically,” Kaur told reporters after Mumbai Indians’ title win on Sunday.
Kaur said she was waiting for this moment for a long time, to win a trophy as a captain.
“It feels very good personally also. I was waiting for this moment for a long time when I could win something as a captain. It is also very important for women’s cricket,” she stated.
“Many times we were there but could not make it. But here the tournament was different, the teams were different. Every side is so balanced and did well in the tournament.” Kaur’s run out on Sunday reminded of her dismissal in the T20 World Cup semifinal against Australia, but the MI captain said there was enough in her team’s tank to overhaul the target.
“Both the run outs were quite disappointing. I was confident in the last match (India versus Australia) because we had so many wickets in hand. I thought we would be able to do it.
“But the state of affairs was lots totally different right here, we had Nat in the center and he or she was effectively settled. I knew who was going to bowl and the way. We had been fairly constructive to end the sport one or two overs left. But once I received out we thought we had to go by the scenario,” she stated.
She stated taking part in the Eliminator towards Gujarat Giants helped her aspect acquire momentum into the ultimate.
“When we had been doing effectively, the one thought in thoughts was to not get into the elimination spherical. But after shedding two matches we had been in search of momentum. It went in our favour that we received yet another match to play earlier than the ultimate and everyone received into the rhythm.
“It worked well in our favour. If you play after a long gap, it is tough to get back into momentum,” Kaur explained.
The India captain was impressed with how Delhi Capitals players Shikha Pandey and Radha Yadav added 52 runs from just 24 balls for the unbroken 10th wicket, and asked them after the game to play similarly for the national team.
“I told Radha after the match that the way they were playing, I want to see the same approach when you come and play for India. She promised to come with the same approach.” Kaur stated the inaugural WPL was an open match and all of the 5 groups performed effectively.
“This was not a one-sided match. The subsequent season might be extra thrilling. People might be ready for this. Every group did rather well,” she stated.
Delhi Capitals coach Jonathan Batty lamented his aspect shedding wickets in heaps towards Mumbai Indians in the ultimate.
“Losing three early wickets hurts you. The partnership between captain Meg (Lanning) and Marizanne (Kapp) got us back but then lost a flurry of wickets. That made it really hard but full credit (to the team) for going into the last over, (losing by) three balls left. We still had a chance of winning there at the end,” he stated.
Batty stated Delhi Capitals revered the decision made by third umpire towards Shafali Verma, who fell off a full toss from Issy Wong.
“We could not tell, the third umpire is in the best position to adjudicate on that and gave what they thought was a fair dismissal and we just lost a wicket, it was just unfortunate timing,” he stated.
