Nat Sciver-Brunt leads Mumbai Indians to win over Delhi Capitals
MUMBAI: Just after she scooped Alice Capsey behind the 'keeper for a four to hit the winning runs in the final over of a tense chase, Nat Sciver-Brunt (60 not out, 55b, 7x4) was the toast of her Mumbai Indians teammates, who were naturally delirious after clinching the first-ever Women's Premier League (WPL) Trophy after downing a spirited Delhi Capitals by seven wickets in a thrilling final at a packed Brabourne Stadium on Sunday night.
Bought by MI at a whopping Rs 3.2 crore, the English all-rounder proved her true worth at the business end of the tournament-scoring a match-winning 72 not out against UP Warriorz in the Eliminator at the DY Patil on Friday night, before cracking an invaluable half-century in the summit clash two days later.
Finishing with 332 runs in 10 games@66.40, besides taking 10 wickets, Sciver-Brunt proved to be MI's 'Most Valuable Player', even if the actual award went to allrounder Hayley Matthews. Their title triumph capped off a superb run for MI at CCI, where they won all their four games in the tournament.
1/10:Mumbai Indians beat Delhi Capitals to clinch inaugural WPL title
PTI
2/10:Nat Sciver-Brunt
<p>Nat Sciver-Brunt hit an unbeaten half-century to steer Mumbai Indians to a seven-wicket victory over Delhi Capitals in the inaugural Women's Premier League final on Sunday.</p>AFP
3/10:Issy Wong
<p>Issy Wong and Hayley Matthews set up the victory as they claimed three wickets each after Delhi elected to bat first at the Brabourne Stadium. </p>AFP
4/10:Shikha Pandey and Radha Yadav
<p>Delhi crumbled under pressure despite a late blitz from Shikha Pandey (27*) and Radha Yadav (27*) lifted the team from 79/9 to bat out the innings. </p>ANI
5/10:Hayley Matthews
<p>Wong rattled the opposition top-order and then Matthews demolished the Delhi batting as she returned figures of 3/5. </p>ANI
6/10:Shikha Pandey
<p>Delhi looked down and out before number eight Shikha put on an unbeaten 52-run 10th-wicket stand off just 24 balls with Radha to take the total past 100. </p>ANI
7/10:Wong double strike
<p>Wong struck twice in her first over with the wickets of Shafali Verma (11) and Alice Capsey (0) to put Delhi on the back foot.</p>AFP
8/10:Vital stand
<p>Skipper Meg Lanning and Jemimah Rodrigues hit back with four boundaries but Wong struck again with the wicket of Rodrigues as Delhi fell to 35/3.</p>AFP
9/10:The run out
<p>The in-form Lanning consolidated her top spot in the tournament batting charts with 345 runs but her run out hurt Delhi badly. </p>AFP
10/10:Amelia Kerr
<p>Delhi kept losing wickets and collapsed from 73/3 with Amelia Kerr returning with 2/18 as Mumbai restricted Delhi to 131/9.</p>AFPChasing 132, MI slipped to 23 for 2 in the fourth over as they lost openers Matthews (13) and Yastika Bhatia (4). However, skipper Harmanpreet Kaur (37, 39b, 5x4) and Sciver-Brunt put on 72 in 75 balls for the third wicket to keep their hopes alive. MI needed 37 off 23balls when Kaur was run out while going for a risky single to mid-wicket.
However, cheered on by a packed house of 20,000 fans that included batting legend Sachin Tendulkar, Indian and the MI men's team captain Rohit Sharma and a few other MI stars, Nat-Sciver and Amelia Kerr (14 not out off 8 balls), who hit a couple of timely fours, took their team home with their 39-run unbeaten stand for the fourth wicket in just 20 balls.
Earlier, an unbeaten 52-run partnership off just 24 balls for the 10th wicket between tailenders Shikha Pandey (27 not out, 17b, 3x4, 1x6), who was batting for just the second time in the WPL, and Radha Yadav (27 not out, 12b, 2x4, 2x6) took DC to 131 for 9 in 20 overs, putting life back into a final which was threatening to turn into a facile, one-sided contest.
Rattled by a controversial no-ball call, Issy Wong's early strikes and then some brilliant spin bowling by offie Matthews (3-5 in 4 overs) and leggie Amelia Kerr (2-18 in 4 overs), the Capitals, tottering at 79 for 9, seemed to have almost surrendered against MI.
However, just when they looked down and out, DC breathed again, as, scripting an unbelievable fightback, Pandey and Yadav plundered 20 runs off the penultimate over by Wong, spoiling her figures (3-42 in 4 overs). Yadav ensured a fighting total when she blasted Sciver-Brunt for two big sixes over long-on off the last two balls of the innings, leaving MI slightly ruffled by the Capitals' stunning comeback.
After they chose to bat first, DC were rattled in just the second over when the dashing Shafali Verma (11 off 4 balls), having just thrashed Wong for a six and a four, was adjudged out caught running backwards by Amelia Kerr at point off the third ball, a full toss that wasn't deemed to be a no ball, despite fervent appeals by both Shafali and DC skipper Meg Lanning (35, 29b, 5x4).
