Mumbai Indians (MI) won the Women’s Premier League (WPL) title for the second time in three seasons, successfully defending 149 for 7 to consign Delhi Capitals (DC) to a runners-up finish for a third season in a row.

Nat Sciver-Brunt, who became the first to 1000 runs in WPL, and Harmanpreet Kaur, who tallied 300 runs in a season for the first time, were central to MI’s batting even on Saturday, adding 89 for the third wicket to lift them from 14 for 2. Harmanpreet continued her fine striking form to hit a 36-ball fifty that dragged MI to a respectable total.

DC crumbled early in response to their 150-run chase but sprung back to life thanks toMarizanne Kapp’s late, smart hitting. She hit 40 off just 26 balls and added 40 off 29 balls with Niki Prasad for the seventh wicket. That assault brought down DC’s equation to 23 off 12 balls and then 14 off 6 when Prasad hit Hayley Matthews for a six. But there was Sciver-Brunt at the end, like she was there at the start. As a result, DC came out to be second-best again, their eight-run loss likely to sting them the most.

It was the fifth game in a row – fourth at the Brabourne Stadium this season – that a team batting first won. It was only the fourth time in the WPL that a sub-150 target was successfully defended, three of them have seen DC on the losing side.

Sciver-Brunt celebrated vociferously after clean bowling DC captain Meg Lanning. Shabnim Ismail couldn’t be stopped after she trapped Shafali Verma, DC’s leading run-getter this season. Amelia Kerr outfoxed Jess Jonassen, Saika Ishaque got the better of Annabel Sutherland. DC were in all sorts at 4 for 44 and soon, Jemimah Rodrigues fell after a sprightly knock, leaving them 66 for 5. Sarah Bryce’s run-out left them at 83 for 6 inside 13 overs. Surely it was curtains for DC?

Not until Kapp was in the middle. She was not going to let her frugal spell of 2 for 11 off four overs to waste. She blasted a Sciver-Brunt half-tracker over deep midwicket for half a dozen before bringing her wrists into play to clip one behind square on the leg side. She then hit two fours off successive balls off Hayley Matthews before going 4, 6, 4 off Ishaque to leave DC needing a gettable 35 off 24 balls. When Prasad, batting at No. 8, scythed Ismail through backward point to end the 17th over, the equation came down to 29 off 18.

The partisan crowd at the Brabourne Stadium suddenly cheered every Kapp boundary. But Sciver-Brunt earned the loudest cheer when she had Kapp flat-bat one straight to Matthews at long-off. Nothing quite stings like a dashed hope; Lanning’s blank expression said it all.

DC opted to bowl on what was a fresh surface. On a balmy Mumbai evening, Kapp and Shikha Pandey got the new ball to swing around. Matthews couldn’t score from five of the seven balls she faced off Kapp. After bowling a few balls shaping away from the right-hander, Kapp got one to go straight on and rattle Matthews’ stumps. It was the 11th time Matthews was dismissed by Kapp in women’s T20s.

From the other end, Pandey also did not let the off-colour Yastika Bhatia off and built up the pressure. In a bid to cut loose, Bhatia drove one Kapp delivery towards cover, where Jemimah Rodrigues took a low catch tumbling forward. That double strike meant MI finished the powerplay on 20 for 2, their second-lowest total in the phase in the WPL.

Like the previous two WPL finals, it looked as if the team batting first would end up with a below-par total. DC were calling the shots with the ball; Kapp finished her quota in a single spell to give them early control. That did little to fluster Sciver-Brunt and Harmanpreet. They targeted their bowlers to help MI pick up pace, and how. MI scored just 28 off 2 in the first eight overs; in the next five, they added 59. Each of those five overs went for over ten.

It is not often Sciver-Brunt plays the second fiddle but such was Harmanpreet’s silken touch. A pull off Annabel Sutherland, that travelled over deep backward square leg for a six, started a style of play we have come to see Harmanpreet in WPL 2025. She then took apart Jess Jonassen, a bowler who has got her number in T20Is, in the 11th over, carting her for three fours in a row. She welcomed the offspin of Minnu Mani with what was one of the shots of the evening – a whip that was all wrists through square leg off the back foot. She scored her third half-century of the season to pull MI out of trouble. MI scored 70 in the seven overs between the first and second timeout.

Sutherland then had Harmanpreet hole out to deep cover as MI collapsed from 102 for 2 to 118 for 6. Yet, MI managed to score 25 off the last two overs to get close to 150. DC picked up 5 for 45 in the last five overs; that effort wouldn’t have been all that bad on another day.

Brief scores:
Mumbai Indians Women 149 for 7 in 20 overs (Harmanpreet Kaur 66, Nat Sciver-Brunt 30, G Kamalini 10, Amanjot Kaur 14*; Narizanne Kapp 2-11, Annabel Sutherland 1-29, Jess Jonassen 2-26, Shree Charani 2-43) beat Delhi Capitals Women 141 for 9 in 20 overs (Meg Lanning 13, Jess Jonassen 13, Marizanne Kapp 40, Jemimah  Rodrigues 30, Niki Prasad 25*; Nat  Sciver-Brunt 3-30, Shabnim Ismail 1-15, Hayley Mathews 1-37, Amelia Kerr 2-25, Saika Ishaque 1-33) by eight runs

[Cricinfo]