WPL: Harmanpreet, Sciver-Brunt seal the chase after Saika shines again

MUMBAI

How can you stop this Mumbai side? Four MI matches later, none of its rivals in the Women’s Premier League has an answer. In front of a near full house at the Brabourne Stadium on Sunday, with the fans cheering the team right through, it crushed UP Warriorz by eight wickets.

After restricting Warriorz to 159 for six, MI romped home in the 18th over with skipper Harmanpreet Kaur leading the charge (53 not out, 33b, 9x4, 1x6).

It was Harmanpreet’s unbroken third-wicket stand of 106 with Nat Sciver-Brunt (45 not out, 31b, 6x4, 1x6) that destroyed Warriorz’s hopes which had soared after the MI openers Yastika Bhatia (42, 27b, 8x4, 1x6) and Hayley Mathews (12, 17b, 2x4) left at the same total of 58.

Earlier, MI failed to bowl out an opposition for the first time, but that didn’t matter in the end. When the third-wicket partnership between Warriorz captain Alyssa Healy (58, 46b, 7x4, 1x6) and Tahlia McGrath (50, 37b, 9x4) was looking to take the team into the death overs, MI struck back through left-arm spinner Saika Ishaque. The Purple Cap holder removed the Aussies in the same over. She trapped Healy on the reverse sweep and a ball later had McGrath stumped with a flighted delivery.

Saika had taken the first wicket, too, in the second over of the day — Devika Vaidya fell lbw while trying to sweep a fuller, quicker delivery.

Kiran Navgire, after hitting 10 in two balls off Amelia Kerr, perished to the next, top-edging a slog-sweep to ’keeper Yastika, who had to wait an eternity for the ball to land in her big gloves. Warriorz needed to rebuild and Healy did that in the company of McGrath through their 82-run association.

That, however, wasn’t enough to stop Mumbai.