WPL 2024: MI vs GG: Mumbai Indians beat Gujarat Giants by 5 wickets in the 3rd match of WPL 2024: An interesting journey has begun with the second edition of the Women’s Primer League in 2024. In the third match on 25th February, the captain of the first season’s champion team, Harmanpreet Kaur won the toss and chose to bowl.
Coming to bat first, the Gujarat Giants were thrashed by Amelia Kerr (31, 4/17) and aggressive Shabnim Ismail (3/18) as the defending champion Mumbai Indians defeated the Gujarat Giants in Match 3 at the M Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bengaluru. Achieved two wins in two matches.
With the help of a brilliant 46-run inning by Women’s Mumbai Indians team captain Harmanpreet Kaur, Mumbai defeated Gujarat Giants by five wickets at the M.Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bengaluru and with this victory achieved their second consecutive win in the league.
After this, captain Harmanpreet Kaur (46*) and Kerr (31) played consistent innings and helped MI achieve the target with 11 balls remaining after the initial struggle.
Chasing 127, MI faltered early and lost openers Yastika Bhatia and Hayley Mathews inside the first four overs.
After crucial innings with the bat for Gujarat Giants (GG), Katherine Bryce and Tanuja Kanwar carried forward the confidence in the second innings and dismissed Bhatia and Hayley Mathews respectively to provide a good start.
Nat Sciver-Brunt then relieved some of the pressure with creative stroke play, hitting three fours off scoop shots. Just as MI was gaining some momentum, a brilliant tag-team fielding effort from Kanwar and Mooney saw Sciver-Brunt (22 off 18) run out.
The duo added 66 (50) for the fourth wicket to put MI in the driver’s seat before Lee Tahuhu finally got the breakthrough for GG by trapping Kerr (31 off 25) LBW.
There was a slight stutter as MI lost Pooja Vastrakar for 1 run early. Captain Kaur (46* off 41), however, kept her cool and took MI over the finish line with a six to win the match by five wickets.
He then dismissed Harleen Deol in her next over, who also failed to review and gave Mumbai Indians the perfect start.
Beth Mooney then relieved some of the pressure on Mathews with two fours, before Phoebe Litchfield took three runs from the over with a reverse sweep. But Ismail again created pressure with a powerful five-run over.
Nat Sciver-Brunt benefited from this as he dismissed Lichfield in the next over to reduce GG to 37/3. After this, Mathews also joined the wicket-taking party when she had Dayalan Hemlata caught at long-on in the 8th over.
MI maintained its hold. GG reached 58/4 at the half stage without a single boundary after the fourth over, leaving the boundaries dry.
Harmanpreet then brought Ismail back and she dismissed captain Beth Mooney (24 off 22) with a slow delivery on her very first ball, which she tried to shuffle and scoop, but only managed to take it to the keeper.
Kerr compounded GG’s troubles as she sent back Ashley Gardner and Sneh Rana in the same over, and displayed her range to dismiss both with clever leggies and googlies respectively.
Tanuja Kanwar (28 off 21) and Katherine Bryce (25 off 24) put together a vital partnership of 48 runs off 36 balls to take GG past 100 and help them post 126/9.
Amelia Kerr took two wickets in the final over and finished with impressive figures of 4/17, while Shabnim Ismail finished with impressive figures of 3/18.
Also read: WPL 2024: Women’s Premier League Points Table and Scorecard
MI vs GG Scorecard
Women’s Mumbai Indians Batting Scorecard:
| Player | R | B | 4s | 6s | S/R |
| Yastika Bhatia (w) | 7 | 7 | 1 | 0 | 100.00 |
| Hayley Matthews | 7 | 11 | 1 | 0 | 63.63 |
| Natalie Sciver-Brunt | 22 | 18 | 4 | 0 | 122.22 |
| Harmanpreet Kaur (c) | 46 | 41 | 5 | 1 | 112.19 |
| Amelia Kerr | 31 | 25 | 3 | 0 | 124.00 |
| Pooja Vastrakar | 1 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 50.00 |
| Amanjot Kaur | 0 | 5 | 0 | 0 | 0.00 |
Women’s Gujarat Giants Bowling:
| Bowler | Overs | Maidens | Runs | Wickets | Economy Rate |
| Ashleigh Gardner | 4 | 0 | 23 | 0 | 5.75 |
| Meghna Singh | 2 | 0 | 19 | 0 | 9.50 |
| Kathryn Bryce | 3 | 1 | 22 | 1 | 7.33 |
| Tanuja Kanwar | 4 | 0 | 21 | 2 | 5.25 |
| Lea Tahuhu | 3 | 0 | 17 | 1 | 5.66 |
| Sneh Rana | 2.1 | 0 | 21 | 0 | 9.69 |
Women’s Gujarat Giants Batting Scorecard:
| Player | R | B | 4s | 6s | S/R |
| Beth Mooney (c) (w) | 24 | 22 | 2 | 0 | 109.09 |
| Veda Krishnamurthy | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0.00 |
| Harleen Deol | 8 | 9 | 0 | 1 | 88.88 |
| Phoebe Litchfield | 7 | 8 | 1 | 0 | 87.50 |
| Dayalan Hemalatha | 3 | 8 | 0 | 0 | 37.50 |
| Ashleigh Gardner | 15 | 22 | 2 | 0 | 68.18 |
| Kathryn Bryce | 25 | 24 | 1 | 1 | 104.16 |
| Sneh Rana | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0.00 |
| Tanuja Kanwar | 28 | 21 | 4 | 0 | 133.33 |
| Lea Tahuhu | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0.00 |
Women’s Mumbai Indians Bowling:
| Bowler | Overs | Maidens | Runs | Wickets | Economy Rate |
| Shabnim Ismail | 4 | 0 | 18 | 3 | 4.50 |
| Natalie Sciver-Brunt | 2 | 0 | 14 | 1 | 7.00 |
| Hayley Matthews | 4 | 0 | 33 | 1 | 8.25 |
| Amelia Kerr | 4 | 0 | 17 | 4 | 4.25 |
| Pooja Vastrakar | 2 | 0 | 9 | 0 | 4.50 |
| Keerthana Balakrishnan | 3 | 0 | 19 | 0 | 6.33 |
| Saika Ishaque | 1 | 0 | 8 | 0 | 8.00 |
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Also read: WPL 2024 Points Table RCB-W Surpasses MI-W Latest After RCB-W vs UPW-W | Women’s Premier League 2024