Navi Mumbai: Harleen Deol struck an unbeaten 39-ball 64 as UP Warriorz beat Mumbai Indians by seven wickets to register their first win in the Women’s Premier League here on Thursday.
Batting first, Nat Sciver-Brunt lifted Mumbai Indians to 161 for five after a poor start with a brutal 43-ball 65, while Nicola Carey blazed away to an unbeaten 20-ball 32, as the team amassed 107 runs in the last 10 overs.
However, UPW overcame the total with Harleen playing the lead role and Phoebe Litchfield (25 off 22 balls) and skipper Meg Lanning (25 off 26) making useful contributions with the bat.
Harleen (64 not out off 39), who was retired out on Wednesday (January 14) despite batting well, proved a point by anchoring UPW’s run chase to perfection.
It was the first success of the season for UPW in four games, while Mumbai Indians suffered their second loss in four matches.
She batted with renewed purpose and plenty of intent, collecting boundaries at will, including three in an over off the accomplished Shabnim Ismail.
What stood out in Harleen’s knock was her play square of the wicket on the off-side and the effortless manner in which she scored her runs.
The India batter completed her fifty in the 15th over with a sweep off spinner Sanskriti Gupta.
Two more fours followed in the same over, reducing the equation to 29 off 24 balls with seven wickets in hand.
In the company of Chloe Tryon (27 not out off 11), Deol stayed till the end to ensure the job was done without a hiccup.
However, the troubles for UP Warriors at the top of the order persisted, with Meg Lanning (25 off 26) and Kiran Navgire (10 off 12) unable to provide a lightning start.
Earlier, the opening pairing of Amanjot Kaur (38 off 33) and G Kamalimi (5 off 12) could never really get going on a slow pitch that offered assistance to the spinners.
Sciver-Brunt and skipper Harmanpreet Kaur (16 off 11) got together after the openers departed in successive overs.
Labouring to 54 for two in 10 overs, Sciver-Brunt changed the course of the innings with remarkable hitting.
Thanks to her special knock, Mumbai Indians managed to put up a competitive total with 107 runs coming in the last 10 overs.
After Harmanpreet fell to a sweep shot off Asha Shobhana, Nicola Carey provided ideal support to Sciver-Brunt, who kept collecting boundaries for fun.
It was the 17-run over from Shobhana that gave the innings much needed momentum with Sciver-Brunt hammering a couple of fours and a straight six.
