Mumbai: After a thumping eight-wicket win over Delhi Capitals in WPL 2023, Mumbai Indians captain Harmanpreet Kaur Thursday lauded her bowlers saying that they are making her job easier by bowling according to the field, which is key in T20 cricket.
Riding on brilliant bowling performances from Issy Wong (3/10), Saika Ishaque (3/13) and Hayley Matthews (3/19), Mumbai Indians bowled out Delhi Capitals for 105 in 18 overs in the seventh match of the WPL 2023 at Dr DY Patil Sports Academy, here.
Issy, Saika and Hayley kept picking crucial wickets for Mumbai at regular intervals as only two Delhi batters Meg Lanning (43 off 41) and Jemimah Rodrigues (25 off 18) showed some fight.
In reply, opener Yastika Bhatia played a fine knock (41 off 32) for Mumbai Indians before getting out in the 9th over. Thereafter, Delhi Capitals removed another opener Hayley Matthews (32 of 31) in the 12th over but it was not enough as Nat Sciver-Brunt (23 not out off 19) and Harmanpreet Kaur (11 off 8) played some adventurous shots to keep the score-board moving.
Nat Sciver and Harmanpreet stitched a quickfire stand of 32 runs for the third wicket as Mumbai Indians chased down the target in 15 overs with eight wickets in hand to continue their unbeaten run in the tournament.
“Today our bowlers did really well. They’re making my job easier. Whoever comes in is eager to bowl. When you have so many options, your job is so easy. Credit to our bowlers. Bowling according to the field is key in T20s and we’re able to do that. After the last game we all discussed that we bowled some bad balls,” said Harmanpreet at the post-match presentation.
“Yastika and Hayley gave us a really good start. Now the tournament is going to start because the pitches are going to be on the slower side,” she added.
On the other hand, Delhi Captain skipper Meg Lanning said that they failed to build partnerships during their batting.
“Mumbai bowled excellently. That’s the game – sometimes it doesn’t go your way. The pitch definitely had something in it for the bowlers, which is a good thing. You can’t go out there looking at 180 from the start. Need to build partnerships. That’s what we weren’t able to do today,” said Lanning.
Talking about the positives, she said,” I thought Rodrigues came out and attacked the bowling. Capsey’s bowling beautifully. Hopefully, I can keep contributing and we have a few more wins in us.”
IANS