Mumbai Indians (MI) mounted a fine comeback with the ball to set up a win that put them a step closer to making the playoffs for a third year in succession and pushed UP Warriorz (UPW) to the brink of exiting WPL 2025. Led by a five-wicket haul from Amelia Kerr,  MI picked up 9 for 76 to restrict UPW to 150 for 9 and chased that down with six wickets and nine balls to spare.

UPW were off to their best start in the competition thanks to Georgia Voll’s half-century in just her second WPL match. After being bowled for a duck on debut, she hit 55 off 33 balls to lay a strong platform. But UPW couldn’t capitalise, going from 74 for 0 to 125 for 7. The MI spinners combined to pick up eight of the nine wickets UPW lost.In reply, Hayley Matthews struck her second half-century of the season and was involved in a 92-run second-wicket partnership with Nat Sciver Brunt that all but sealed the win. It was Matthews’ second fifty in as many games this season against UPW, her 46-ball 68 in Lucknow following up her 50-ball 59 in Bengaluru last week.

The win took MI up to second on the points table with eight points and a net run rate of 0.267 after six outings. Their next game is against Gujarat Giants, who are third currently with six points in six matches with an NRR of 0.357.

Shabnim Ismail bowled the fastest ball recorded in women’s cricket history last year. Sciver-Brunt is capable of swinging the ball around in the early 110-kphs. Going by the first WPL game at the Ekana Stadium, there was enough help for the fast bowlers with the new ball. Yet the MI fast-bowling duo bowled offcutters on a red-soil surface. Ismail tried to soften Voll up with a one-two trick early on but quickly switched to taking pace off. Sciver-Brunt’s cutters proved tough to get away too, initially.

UPW opted for a third opening pair in their seventh game at WPL 2025, with former Brisbane Heat team-mates Harris and Voll striding out. The first ball of the match caught Harris by surprise. It reared up from a short-of-good length outside off and hit her high on the blade. That left Voll expecting the bouncer from Ismail, who slipped a few full ones to make the batter uncomfortable. But Voll soon got the measure of the bowler as well as the surface and she hit three fours in the five balls she faced after getting off the mark.

Voll was the aggressor but it was Harris who ended the powerplay with back-to-back fours off left-arm spinner Parunika Sisodia, whom MI had brought in for Jintimani Kalita. And so UPW ended the powerplay on 50 without loss. It was the best start for UPW this season. Voll took just 29 balls to bring up a fine half-century.

Voll greeted Kerr with three fours and then hit one more off Matthews in the next over. A misjudgement by Ismail at long-on saw Harris hit her only six. But a bouncer from Matthews, one she often uses to surprise the batters, got the better of Harris, who steer-pulled it to short fine leg. Kiran Navgire, at No. 3, went for an ungainly hack, charging at Kerr, to fall for a second-ball duck. Sciver-Brunt delivered the killer blow when Voll went for the scoop and missed.

From there, UPW struggled to get momentum with only Deepti Sharma holding one end up. All of Vrinda Dinesh, Chinelle Henry, Shweta Sehrawat and Uma Chetry fell trying to hit out against spin. Deepti hit just the two fours in her 25-ball 27 as UPW scored just 61 in their last ten overs.

MI are the most successful chasing team in the WPL and the 151-run target was unlikely to pose stiff challenge. But they had a concern at the top of the order – Yastika Bhatia had tallied 38 runs in six innings before Thursday. So they pushed Kerr up to open with Matthews and the move did not pay dividends. After hitting a couple of fours, Kerr mis-swatted a back-of-a-length ball from Henry to mid-on.

Matthews and Sciver-Brunt then joined forces and sped up the run scoring with dew also coming to their aid. Deepti was seen using the towel to wipe the ball inside the powerplay. Kranti Goud began well and extracted enough swing, much like Henry did, resulting in Matthews playing and missing a few. But a 16-run Gouher Sultana over set MI on their way.

The duel between Caribbean mates Henry and Matthews was one of the highlights of the phase: Henry getting one to rear up at her West Indies captain and having a few friendly words to say, only for Matthews to walk down the track to a short ball and send it sailing into the deep midwicket stands and grin in response.

MI lost three reasonably quick wickets at the doorstep of victory but Bhatia, in at No. 6, hit a couple of fours off the offspin of Voll and Deepti to seal the deal. And so two games into their “home leg” in Lucknow, UPW have two comprehensive defeats to show for it.

Brief scores:
Mumbai Indians Women 153 for 4 in 18.3 overs (Hayley Matthews 68, Nat Sciver-Brunt 37, Amelia Kerr 10, Amanjot Kaur 12*, Yastika Bhatia 10*;  Grace Harris 2-11, Chinell Henry 1-28, Kranti Goud 1-38) beat UP Warriorz Women 150 for 9 in 20 overs (Georgia Voll 55, Grace Harris 28, Deepti  Sharma 27, Dinesh Vrinda 10, Sophie Eclestone 16; Nat Sciver-Brunt 1-16, Parunika Sisodia 1-21, Amelia Kerr 5-38, Hayley Matthews 2-25) by six wickets

[Cricinfo]