UP Warriorz recorded their first win of the Women's Premier League 2024 season with a dominant performance against in-form Mumbai Indians on Wednesday. An impressive all-round performance from Grace Harris and a quick 25-ball fifty from Kiran Navgire helped the Warriorz chase down a 162-run target with seven wickets and 22 balls remaining.
Hayley Matthews ended her poor run of form with her first fifty of the season to help Mumbai Indians post a challenging total batting first. But, UP Warriorz openers Alyssa Healy and Kiran Navgire smashed a 94-run stand off just 55 balls for the opening wicket to decide an early result at Bengaluru's M Chinnaswamy Stadium.
Mumbai Indians lost their star captain Harmanpreet Kaur and a pace bowler Shabnim Ismail to minor injuries prior to the game. Humaira Kazi and English pacer Issy Wong replaced Kaur and Ismail for Mumbai while UP added pacer Anjali Sarwani in the place of veteran spinner Gouher Sultana.
In-form Yastika Bhatia and Hayley gave Mumbai Indians a strong start by adding 50 runs for the opening wicket but struggled for big shots against an improved bowling performance from the Warriorz. Harris gave UP a breakthrough with Yastika's wicket in the eighth over and then Mumbai struggled to find a momentum to build for a big total.
Hayley top-scored with 55 off 47 balls but no other Mumba player managed to cross 30-plus score. Each UP Warriorz bowler took one wicket with Sophie Ecclestone and Grace Harris bowling the most economical spells at Chinnaswamy.
Chasing a tough target, Healy and Navgire produced a quickfire start to UP Warriorz's innings. Healy and Navgire added 94 runs off just 55 balls for the opening wicket to take complete control of the match inside the first ten overs.
Healy was dismissed by Issy Wong after scoring 33 off 29 balls but Navgire managed to smash 57 off just 31 balls with the help of six fours and four sixes. Navgire reached her fifty in just 25 balls to register the fastest-ever fifty for UP Warriorz in the WPL history.
Warriorz lost Navgire, Healy and Tahlia McGrath in quick succession as Mumbai made a strong comeback. But the star all-rounders Deepti Sharma and Grace Harris pulled off an unbeaten 65-run stand for the fourth wicket to give UP Warriorz their first win of the season. Deepti scored 27* off 20 balls while Harris smashed an unbeaten 38 off just 17 balls to record an easy win over Mumbai.
Mumbai Indians Playing XI: Yastika Bhatia (wk), Hayley Matthews, Natalie Sciver-Brunt (c), Amelia Kerr, Pooja Vastrakar, Amanjot Kaur, Issy Wong, S Sajana, Humaira Kazi, Keerthana Balakrishnan, Saika Ishaque
UP Warriorz Playing XI: Alyssa Healy (c & wk), Vrinda Dinesh, Tahlia McGrath, Grace Harris, Shweta Sehrawat, Kiran Navgire, Poonam Khemnar, Deepti Sharma, Sophie Ecclestone, Anjali Sarvani, Rajeshwari Gayakwad
