Playing at home, the Mumbai Indians dominated in all departments of the game and completed a comprehensive 47-win over the Gujarat Giants in the Eliminator at the Brabourne Stadium on Thursday and set up Saturday’s WPL 2025 title clash against the Delhi Capitals.
On a fresh pitch, knocks of 77 each from Hayley Matthews and Nat Sciver-Brunt, along with a breathtaking 36 from captain Harmanpreet Kaur, took MI to a massive 213/4. In defence of the massive total, Hayley shined with her off-spin bowling to pick 3-31, as GG were bowled out for 166 in 19.2 overs. She also got good support from Amelia Kerr, who picked two wickets, while Nat and Shabnim Ismail were also amongst the wickets, as they sealed MI’s place in playing the summit clash against DC at the same venue on Saturday, in what is also the rematch of the 2023 WPL final.
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Shabnim struck early for Mumbai when Beth Mooney’s outside edge was pouched by Hayley, moving to her right at first slip. Harleen Deol and Danielle Gibson hit five boundaries between themselves before the former was run out by an accurate throw from Sanskriti Gupta and Yastika Bhatia, dislodging the stumps in time.
Hayley made a massive dent into GG’s already behind-going chase by castling Asheigh Gardner for eight. Despite Danielle and Phoebe Litchfield dealing with boundaries, it couldn’t help in bringing the required run rate down to a manageable one for GG.
A powerful throw from Amanjot Kaur at deep mid-wicket resulted in Danielle being run out for 34, while Phoebe missed a googly from Amelia and was stumped for 31. After a mix-up resulted in Kashvee Gautam’s run-out, Bharti Fulmali and Simran Shaikh tried delaying the inevitable with a flurry of boundaries before the former’s off-stump was knocked down by Hayley.
From there, Amelia, Nat and Hayley took a wicket each to ensure MI made it to their second WPL final and keep their clean slate against GG intact in front of their home crowd comprising their team owners and IPL team counterparts.
Previously, Hayley and Nat joined forces to share a partnership of 133 off 71 balls for the second wicket and put on a batting masterclass in front of their home fans. While Hayley hit ten fours and three sixes in her 50-ball knock, Nat smashed 10 fours and two sixes in her 41-ball innings. Harmanpreet then took over to hit a 12-ball 36, laced with two fours and four sixes at a strike rate of 300, and took MI to a mammoth total in a knockout game. For GG, it was a phase to forget as none of their bowlers were spared from MI’s big-hitting batters, while their fielding and catching were simply shoddy.
Hayley kickstarted things in style by cutting Ashleigh Gardner for four and was soon dropped on five when Beth Mooney couldn’t hold on to the edge off her drive. From the other end, Yastika Bhatia hit three boundaries in her 14-ball 15 before miscuing off the toe-end to mid-wicket off debutante Danielle Gibson.
After that, it was just one-way traffic as Hayley and Nat carted GG’s hapless bowlers regularly to the boundary ropes. While Hayley mostly hit boundaries off the backfoot, including taking three boundaries off Priya Mishra’s opening over, Nat was driving crisply and taking runs mostly through the leg side.
It also helped the duo that GG made misfields galore, especially outside the 30-yard circle, and didn’t take catches well. Hayley reached her fifty in 36 balls when she pulled Tanuja Kanwer for six, while Nat, after carting Meghna Singh for two boundaries, got her fifty in 29 balls by pulling Danielle for a maximum.
After Nat pulled Danielle for another six, Hayley was dropped on 57 when Ashleigh couldn’t hold on to a chance at long-on. To rub salt in the wound, Hayley smacked Priya for two sixes and a four before edging behind off Kashvee for 77 off 50 balls.
Post that, Priya put down Harmanpreet’s catch at mid-wicket, and from there, it was no looking back for the MI skipper as she hit Tanuja for two fours and as many sixes in the 18th over. Though Nat miscued to deep mid-wicket off Danielle and fell for 77 off 41 balls, Harmanpreet smacked two more monstrous sixes before being run out on the last ball as MI crossed the 210-run mark, which was more than enough to enter Saturday’s title clash.
Brief scores:
Mumbai Indians 213/4 in 20 overs (Nat Sciver-Brunt 77, Hayley Matthews 77; Danielle Gibson 2-40, Kashvee Gautam 1-30) beat Gujarat Giants 166 in 19.2 overs (Danielle Gibson 34, Phoebe Litchfield 31; Hayley Matthews 3-31, Amelia Kerr 2-28) by 47 runs
