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Opting to bat, MI overcame early jitters to post a decent 160/6. While Nat Sciver-Brunt (45 off 31) and skipper Harmanpreet Kaur (33 off 30) added 59 off 46 balls for the third wicket to steady MI’s ship, the innings got impetus due to Amelia Kerr (39 not out off 23 balls) and rising star Sajeevan Sajana’s (22 not out off 14 balls) knocks. The duo added 43 in 4.2 overs towards the end.
UPW struggled in their chase, finding runs difficult to come by as they could manage 118 for nine.
The win was a sweet revenge for MI who lost by seven wickets against UPW on February 28 in Bengaluru.
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UPW never really recovered from the torrid start as the asking rate kept on climbing with every over. The likes of Grace Harris (15) and Deepti Sharma (53 not out) too found the going tough.
Even though Deepti opened up towards the end, by then the match was out of UPW’s grasp.
UPW’s struggle can ge gauged from the fact that only three batters — Harris, Deepti and Shweta Sehrawat (17) — managed double digit scores. Saika Ishaque (3/37) and Nat Sciver-Brunt (2/14) were the main wicket-takers for MI.
Earlier, MI did not have the best of starts after opting to bat as they lost both the openers Yastika Bhatia and Hayley Mathews inside the fourth over.
Both the batters were dismissed by Athapaththu as they looked to go big against the Sri Lankan off-spinner. While Sciver-Brunt played her shots during her aggressive knock, which was laced with eight hits to the fence, Harmanpreet preferred to play the role of an anchor.
But just when the partnership was looking threatening, Sciver-Brunt was cleaned up by left-arm spinner Rajeshwari Gayakwad, a bowler who was punished by the batter in her first couple of overs. Sciver-Brunt was deceived by a quicker delivery, which pitched on fuller length and kept a tad low.
Harmanpreet then took the onus of upping the ante in the company of Kerr, who used the long handle to good effect.
The MI skipper first swept Gayakwad to deep mid-wicket and three balls later, she got down on her knee to hit her for a maximum.
UP skipper Healy made a terrific bowling change by bringing in Saima Thakor in the 15th over as the medium pacer went through Harmanpreet’s defence with the opening delivery.
Harmanpreet’s innings had three fours and one six. Amanjot Kaur spooned a Deepti delivery to Thakor to make matters worse for MI. But Kerr rode on two lives — first when Healy dropped her in the 17th over and then Sophie Ecclestone an over later — to play her shots and help MI cross 150-mark. Kerr and Sajana hit 10 boundaries between themselves to take MI’s total to 160.