Harmanpreet Kaur's MI are the first-ever WPL champions

Harmanpreet Kaur’s MI are the first-ever WPL champions

Yesterday was a historic day for women’s cricket. The reason? The final of the first-ever Women’s Premier League was conducted at Mumbai’s Brabourne Stadium, which saw Harmanpreet Kaur’s Mumbai Indians face Meg Lanning-led Delhi Capitals.

On a starry Mumbai night, the WPL final saw the Mumbai Indians beat Delhi Capitals by 7 wickets thanks to some disciplined bowling and Nat Sciver-Brunt’s composed half-century.

Batting first, Delhi Capitals had a disastrous start losing three wickets for just 35 runs on the board. Despite the top-order collapse, Meg Lanning was standing tall before the disciplined bowling of Mumbai Indians. But a terrible mixup with Jess Jonnassen saw Lanning’s wonderful innings come to a halt. And from there saw a collapse from the Delhi batters. However, a late flourish from Shikha Pandey and Radha Yadav saw the team go past 130 runs on the board. The Delhi Capitals innings ended on 131 runs on the fall of 9 wickets.

Chasing the target, Mumbai didn’t have the start they expected. The Women in Blue and Gold lost two quick wickets in under 4 overs, with the score reading just 23 runs. As it seemed like Mumbai would bottle the chase, two of Mumbai Indians’ strong pillars, Harmanpreet Kaur and Nat Sciver-Brunt, played some intelligent cricket. The two stitched a 72-run stand to take their team within touching distance.

After Harmanpreet’s dismissal, Sciver-Brunt took it upon herself to take the team home. With help from Amelia Kerr, the duo toyed with the Delhi Capitals’ bowling to win the match for the team.

With this team, Mumbai Indians carved their name in history, becoming the first-ever champions of the WPL.

Let’s have a look at how the Twitter world reacted after the wonderful win by Harmanpreet Kaur and her girls.

 

 

 

 

 

Mumbai Indians’ WPL campaign was filled with several excellent individual performances that helped them become the champions. West Indian all-rounder, Hayley Matthews’s brilliant effort in the bowling department won her the “Purple Cap.” Matthews took 16 wickets in just 10 games at an average of 12.62.

England’s Nat Sciver-Brunt was adjudged the “Player of the Series” for her all-round performance. Sciver-Brunt took 10 wickets and scored 332 runs in 10 matches. Sciver-Brunt was marginally behind Meg Lanning for the “Orange Cup.”

The successful conclusion to the first-ever Women’s Premier League showed that women’s league cricket is here to stay. With the support and love that the WPL 2023 has got, the next edition promises to be bigger and better.