NAVI MUMBAI: It was almost pre-ordained that, after a grand opening ceremony, if the Women’s Premier League needed a rollicking start in terms of cricketing excellence, it required a Harmanpreet Kaur ‘special.’
Unleashing her brand of sizzling strokeplay, the Indian and Mumbai Indians captain shrugged off the heartbreak of the 5-run defeat to Australia in the Women’s T20 World Cup semifinals in some style, smashing a boundary-filled 65 (30b, 14x4) against a sloppy, listless Gujarat Giants at the DY Patil Stadium on Saturday night.
After Harmanpreet, Amelia Kerr (45 not out, 24b, 6x4, 1x6) and Hayley Matthews (47, 31b, 4x6, 3x4) powered MI to a mammoth score of 207 for 5, their bowlers were all over Gujarat Giants, who were rattled by Mumbai’s relentless onslaught and an extremely worrying knee injury to their captain Beth Mooney in the first over of their innings.
Bought by the Adani Group for a whopping Rs 1289 cr, GG made a disastrous start to their campaign, folding up for merely 64 in 15.1 overs.
The star of the show for MI with the ball was left-arm spinner Saika Ishaque, who took 4 for 11 in 3.1 overs after Natt
Sciver-Brunt (2-5) delivered the opening blows, sending back Sabbhineni Meghana (2) and Harleen Deol (0).
Kaur’s magical innings, which brought back memories of Brendon McCullum’s explosive 156 off 73 balls which lit up the opening game of the IPL 15 years back in Bangalore, and her entertaining 89-run partnership for the fourth wicket in just 42 balls with the equally destructive New Zealander Amelia Kerr (45 not out, 24b, 6x4, 1x6), saw MI plunder 130 runs off their last 10 overs, 83 of those coming in the final 6.
At one point, Kaur, looking like she was only looking at gaps and not the fielders, creamed 7 fours in 8 balls, first hitting four consecutive fours off left-arm seamer Monica Patel in the 15th over, and then three on the trot off Ashleigh Gardner in the 16th over.
Though she didn’t hit a single six, she swept, paddle-swept and drove the bowlers beautifully through the off-side. It was just plain breathtaking batsmanship, as good a T20 innings as you would see.
It was West Indies’ power-hitter Hayley Matthews who provided the early impetus to Mumbai with her free-flowing 47-run knock, which took just 31 balls and contained three fours and four sixes.
Mathews added 54 for the second wicket with Nat Sciver-Brunt in just 38 balls for the second wicket.
GG fought back by taking the wickets of Mathews and Brunt in quick succession, but Harmanpreet’s magnificent onslaught turned the evening into a nightmare for them.
Brief Scores: Mumbai Indians: 207/5 in 20 overs (H Kaur 65, H Matthews 47, A Kerr 45*; S Rana 2/43) beat Gujarat Giants: 64/9 in 15.1 overs (D Hemalatha 29*; S Ishaque 4/11, N Sciver-Brunt 2/5).
Result: MI won by 143 runs.
