Mumbai Indians (MI) displayed a dominant efficiency in simply their first match of the inaugural season of Women’s Premier League (WPL 2023) registering an enormous victory by crushing a listless Gujarat Giants (GG) by a margin of 143 runs, on Saturday (March 4). Captain Harmanpreet Kaur led the aspect fantastically, smashing a blistering 65 off simply 30 balls that included 14 fours however no maximums. In the method, Harman additionally recorded the primary half-century of the WPL 2023, a report that can at all times be remembered when the historical past of WPL is written.
After the match kickstarted with a grand opening ceremony as likes of Kiara Advani, Kriti Sanon and AP Dhillon danced their manner into the hearts of followers, it was flip of Harmanpreet to take over quickly after the toss occurred. GG received the toss and determined to bowl. That gave MI the possibility to placed on a excessive complete on the board. Harmanpreet knew she needed to make a daring assertion among the many groups from the phrase go and ensured the great begin given by the highest order was not ruined as she began play massive pictures proper from the beginning of her innings. Mumbai ultimately turned the primary crew in WPL to cross the 200-run mark as properly. The 200-run mark is one thing you don’t actually affiliate with ladies’s cricket and these are early indicators that WPL goes to vary lots of issues.Â
Hayley Matthews (47 off 31) and Amelia Kerr (45 off 24) too performed good innings with Pooja Vastrakar offering an awesome end (15 off 8) as MI posted 207 for five on the finish of 20 overs.Â
A particular celebration to mark a historic event! __
The #TATAWPL has really begun! _ pic.twitter.com/4OFP4zun4G
— Women’s Premier League (WPL) (@wplt20) March 4, 2023
It was at all times going to be a troublesome chase for Giants however nobody anticipated to them hand over so early into the innings. Their innings by no means picked up as they saved on dropping wickets at common intervals and misplaced by an enormous margin, which has dented their NRR (-7.150). Injury to Beth Mooney can also be an enormous concern as we await an in depth report on it.
It is fascinating to now that the primary IPL match was additionally a one-sided affair whereby KKR beat RCB by 140 runs. That was the sport when Brendon McCullum smashed 158.