WPL 2023: Oh MI Champs, you made history!

It was as if the windy conditions at the Brabourne Stadium on Sunday night put wind in the Mumbai Indiansrsquo MI sails as they conquered Delhi Capitals DC by seven wickets in a thrilling Womenrsquos Premier League WPL finalMI pacer Issy Wong 342 set the tone for her team with some swinging deliveries and later a 72run stand between Nat SciverBrunt 60 not out in 55 balls and MI skipper Harmanpreet Kaur 37 off 39 balls 5x4 helped MI triumph In a thrilling climax MI needed 21 runs off the last 12 balls Thanks to SciverBrunt they secured victory with three balls to spareChasing DCrsquos 1319 MI had a cautious start before losing openers Hayley Matthews 13 and Yastika Bhatia 4 early By the end of the Powerplay the Harmanpreetled Mumbai had scored 272 with SciverBrunt and Harmanpreet on six and two respectivelyPowerplay factorAt the same stage DC were 383 Both SciverBrunt and Harmanpreet played sensible knocks At the halfway mark MI were 512 needing another 81 off 60 balls On the eve of the final on Saturday Harmanpreet had said that her counterpart in the Delhi teammdashexperienced Australian captain Meg Lanningmdashis known for leading from the front But actually on Sunday the players who shouldered the responsibility perfectly were SciverBrunt and Harmanpreet The way both countered Jonassen and other spinners with sweep shots was simply amazingMIrsquos Hayley Matthews right and Amelia Kerr celebrate a DC wicket yesterdayMI lost their second wicket at 23 in the fourth over but Harmanpreet and SciverBrunt rotated the strike well and stitched a 72run stand off 74 SciverBrunt smashed seven fours DCrsquos leftarm spinners Radha Yadav and Jess Jonassen claimed a wicket each Earlier opting to bat DC had a tough time as they lost their two top batters in the second over Opener Shafali Verma fourball 11 welcomed MIrsquos Wong with a six followed by a four However Wong dismissed Verma on the third ballmdasha swinging deliverymdashthrough point fielder Amelia Kerr Inform onedrop batter Alice Capsey 0 failed to counter Wongrsquos swinging delivery and offered an easy catch to Amanjot Kaur at short coverWong gets it rightHarmanpreet brought back Wong in the fifth over and she conceded 14 but claimed two wickets The pacer didnrsquot disappoint her skipper and with yet another swinging delivery dismissed Jemimah Rodrigues nine Mumbaiborn Rodrigues smashed two fours earlier but failed to read Wong this time and point fielder Matthews took an easy catch For DC the only hope was their captain Lanning who scored a 29ball 35 with the help of five fours However a brilliant fielding effort from Amanjot and some quick reaction by wicketkeeper Yastika Bhatia resulted in Lanningrsquos run outAlso readPlayers did not fix the boundary rope Harmanpreet Kaur gives fitting replyA splendid bowling partnership from two spinnersmdashoffie Matthews 4253 and legspinner Kerr 40182 made a huge difference as they dismantled DCrsquos batting line Thanks to No 8 batter Shikha Pandey 17ball 27 not out and No 11 Radha Yadav 12ball 27 not out DC managed to post 1319 in their allotted 20 overs Wong who registered the first hat trick of the WPL in the Eliminator against UP Warriorz at DY Patil Stadium on Friday returned to the attack in the 19th over However she conceded 20 runs with Pandey hitting a six and two fours Yadav who smashed two sixes off pacer Nat SciverBruntrsquos 037 in the last over of the innings extracted 16 runs from the over Pandey and Yadav shared an unbeaten 52run partnership for the 10th wicket in just 24 ballsBrief scoresDC 1319 in 20 overs M Lanning 35 R Yadav 27 S Pandey 27 H Matthews 35 I Wong 342 A Kerr 218 lost to MI 1343 in 193 overs N SciverBrunt 60 H Kaur 37 R Yadav 124 by 7 wickets