Star-studded MI team gives me freedom to express myself: Hayley Matthews

Hayley Matthews feels extremely liberated that Mumbai Indians batting depth has allowed her to go hell for leather from the onset as she has done in both the WPL games so farOpening the innings for MI the 24yearold from Barbados scored 47 off 31 balls in the opening game against Gujarat Giants and followed it up with a matchwinning unbeaten 77 off 38 balls along with three wickets in her teams emphatic nine wicket win against Royal Challengers BangaloreWe have got a team of a lot of stars It has probably given the freedom at the top of the order here to go out there and bat said Matthews who hit 13 fours and a six during MIs chase of 156In fact Matthews said that playing on better batting tracks at the DY Patil and Brabourne Stadium has certainly helped her game a lot after having played on slow tracks in South Africa during T20 World CupOver the last couple of weeks for the West Indies Ive been working on my batting getting the big scores I have just tried to carry that form here Also batting on much better wickets here than what we got in South Africa has also helped It has also got the confidence up as well she addedMatthews feels that on a batting belter like one at the Brabourne Stadium a target of 175 to 180 is highly chaseableIt was a really good wicket to bat on Probably 170 or 180 plus was the at par score We have the batting and I think both me and Nat SciverBrunt were able to do that and secure a very good win she saidShe also did her star turn with the ball and believes that her teams biggest USP is having lot of multiskilled players at its disposalThankfully they picked me as an allrounder so I expect them to toss me the ball here and there We have got so many bowling options in the Mumbai Indians team that again in the last game I might not have been needed but today I had to bowl That is the beauty of the team that we have right now Matthews addedShouldering more responsibility for West Indies has certainly helped in developing her game Matthews feelsAlso readWPL 2023 Freedom in Mumbai Indians team has given me plenty of confidence says Hayley MatthewsI think it was about being more responsible at the crease I definitely had to put on more with the West Indies It naturally helps me with my T20 came on a whole and it also has helped me hereIt has also helped her change the mindset and she isnt always in a tearing hurry to succeed unlike her starting days in international cricketI probably wasnt getting the amount of runs that I wanted due to probably giving my head too quickly but now I have been forcing responsibility and international cricket has helped me to understand how to build my T20 innings Matthews saidIt is fight for RCBs uncapped players Ben SawyerWhile RCB head coach Ben Swayer put up a brave face but he in a roundabout manner admitted that teams domestic Indian players are indeed facing an uphill taskRCB had spend a bomb in getting services of Smriti Mandhana Richa Ghosh and Ellyse Perry and their domestic recruits dont inspire as much confidence as it shouldSwayer however wants more from the overseas players like Perry and Heather KnightIt is not the start anyone of us at the club wanted But our uncapped players were outstanding It was a big fight from them They have got the experience now but to lose all of our overseas players before the eighth over probably made the difference With the ball we just did not execute our plans Sawyer saidSawyer feels that his side has areas to work on as most of the batters are not converting promising starts with as many as five of them crossed 20run mark but were dismissed after thatWhile chasing 220 you have to take the risks but tonight we had four batters getting into the 20s but none of them converting it into 40s or 50s Sawyer saidThe likes of Grace Harris Meg Lanning and Matthews have upped the ante for their respective sides and Swayer wants the same from RCBs international starsWe have seen from the other teams that overseas players have really stood up and made the bulk of the runs and we have to make sure that ours are doing thatAll of our six overseas players understand that No one is really happy with what we are doing but everyone is determined to turn it around he addedThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever