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Women's Premier League 2024 Cricket

WPL 2024 MI-W vs UP-W Match highlights: UP Warriorz roar back to form with huge win against Mumbai Indians by 7 wickets

UP Warriorz batters show their might as they beat the defending champions Mumbai Indians by 7 wickets to win their first game of the Women's Premier League 2024 season on Wednesday.

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Sarah Andrew
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WPL 2024 (Source-Twitter)

Defending champions Mumbai Indians suffered their first loss of the season when they lost to UP Warriorz. Alyssa Healy and her team outplayed the much fancied Mumbai team on the field in all three departments of the game. 

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Earlier in the day Natalie Sciver Brunt came out for toss. The reason was revealed that Harmanpreet Kaur wasn’t fit to make it to the game. Pacer Shabnim Ismail was also out as Izzy Wong and Humaira Kazi came into the team. The Warriorz side also made a change after their loss in the previous game. 

Mumbai Indians reached 161 on the board thanks to Hayley Matthews finally finding her form. In reply, it was Kiran Navgire who led the batting charge with a blistering half-century with the bat. 

Key Moments –

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-    Hayley Matthew comes back into form

-    Natalie Brunt is run out in farcical circumstances 

-    Mumbai Indians middle order succumbs without Harmanpreet Kaur

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-    Kiran Navgire gives UP a good start

-    Pitch intruder mars the match 

-    Izzy Wong strikes twice 

-    UP won the game with ease 

Hayley Matthews scores an impressive half-century 

West Indian star Hayley Matthews didn’t start the WPL 2024 season well with the bat. Last year the right-handed batter was one of the main reasons for MI winning the title. On Wednesday the West Indian finally found her form with the bat. The 25-year-old scored 55 runs from 47 balls with 9 fours and a six. Yastika Bhatia scored 26 and added exactly 50 runs for the 1st wicket. 

Mumbai Indians lose their skipper thanks to a comical run-out 

The fall of Yastika Bhatia brought Natalie Brunt to the wicket. The stand-in skipper and Hayley Matthews added 42 runs for the 2nd wicket. UP bowlers lacked ideas as the pair looked set for a huge score but a comical run-out ended the proceedings. There was a huge confusion between the two batters who stood in the middle of the pitch. The bowler had a chance to run out Matthews but chose to throw it to the batter's end as Brunt was out for 19. 

Mumbai Indians stutter without Captain Kaur – 

From 92/2 the Mumbai Indians team could only post 161 on the board. Amelia Kerr (23), Pooja Vastrakar (18), and Izzy Wong (15) tried to push the score towards 170. Each of the UP bowlers picked a wicket and kept a tight leash on the Mumbai batting unit. Grace Harris was the pick of the bowlers for UP with 1/20 from her four overs. 

Kiran Navgire powers UP to a blazing start – 

Making use of the best batting conditions under lights, UP Warriorz opener Kiran Navgire was on fire. The right-handed batter smashed every Mumbai bowler to put the defending champions on the back foot. Amelia Kerr finally broke the 1st wicket stand of 94 when she had Navgire stumped for 57. Her knock came off 31 balls with 6 fours and 4 sixes. 

Izzy Wong strikes twice – 

With Navgire back in the hut, Mumbai Indians made a mini-comeback of sorts by picking two quick wickets. Tahlia McGrath was out LBW for 1 and this was followed by Alyssa Healy falling for 33. At that stage of the innings, UP was 98/3 still needing 64 runs from 56 balls. 

Pitch intruder mars the match –

While UP Warriorz batters were putting up a gallant effort, there was a mini incident that took place. One fan ran to the ground in a bid to shake hands with Alyssa Healy. The Australian star didn’t take too kindly to the act and was seen giving the fan a telling-off. The security eventually came and took the fan away from the ground. 

Deepti Sharma and Grace Harris help UP win the game with ease – 

Those two wickets were the only joy Mumbai Indians got for the rest of the game. Australian veteran Grace Harris was unbeaten on 38 from just 17 balls. Deepti Sharma gave her good support scoring 27 not out from 20 balls. The final margin of win for UP was by 7 wickets with 21 balls to spare. 

Kiran Navgire named Player of the match - 

29-year-old opener Kiran Navgire was given the player of the match for her half-century. Speaking at the end of the game, the injury from the previous game did not affect her. She went on to say that she was prepared to open the batting and played the ball on its meri. 

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