Bengaluru (Karnataka) [India], February 29 (ANI): Star UP batting allrounder Deepti Sharma said on Wednesday that there’s a positive feeling when a side clinches a win.
UP Warriorz sealed their maiden victory in the ongoing Women’s Premier League (WPL) after beating Mumbai Indians by seven wickets at . Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bengaluru.
While speaking at the post-match presentation, Deepti said that they have a good batting lineup for which the UP-based franchise did not think much about the target.
Talking about UP’s performance in the first, she added that they could have restricted Mumbai’s run rate in the last few overs.
“We’re happy, you get a positive feeling when you win. We didn’t think this was a big target, we have a good batting line-up, and the start given by Kiran and Alyssa was excellent. I don’t know about that (the decision to open with Kiran was based on Vrinda’s injury), but things do happen for a good cause. We could have cut down the runs in the last few overs, it’s an important phase of play and we can get better thereby bowling better lines and lengths,” Deepti said.
On the other hand, Mumbai Indians skipper Nat Sciver-Brunt said that Issy Wong helped the defending champions to make a comeback in the game by taking a few wickets but Grace Harris’ knock helped UP take the first two points of the season.
“Yesterday evening (when she was told about having to lead the team), there was a quick turnaround (of matches). When you win the toss and bowl first it’s always an advantage, the ball came nicely onto the bat under the lights, and Kiran’s innings took the game away from us. No concerns with our batting, it didn’t come out well tonight. Not too worried about our bowling, it didn’t go well for us today evening. Issy made a big impact with a couple of wickets to get us back into the contest, but Grace played a fine hand for them to get them home. We know we’ll be coming up against a big home crowd (in the next match against RCB), but we’ll be prepared for that,” Sciver-Brunt said.
Recapping the match, UP skipper Alyssa Healy (33 runs from 29 balls) and Kiran Navgire (57 runs from 31 balls) opened for the Warriorz and made a solid 94-run partnership. The Healy-Navgire duo gave the UP-based franchise a fiery start while chasing a target of 162 runs. Healy smashed 5 fours with a strike rate of 113.79.
Meanwhile, Navgire slammed his fifty after playing just 25 balls. She smashed 6 fours and 4 sixes. However, the player’s knock had to come to an end after Amelia Kerr made the first breakthrough of the game after she dismissed Navgire in the 10th over.
Issy Wong scalped the second wicket of the inning after she dismissed Tahlia McGrath (1 run from 4 balls) in the 11th over. Wong’s spell helped Mumbai to make a comeback in the game after she removed skipper Healy in the 10th over.
Even though the Mumbai-based franchise picked up two quick wickets but still failed to take control of the game.
After losing three wickets, Grace Harris (38* runs from 17 balls) and Deepti Sharma (27* runs from 20 balls) took charge of the batting lineup as they chased the target without any difficulty. (ANI)
