Bengaluru, Feb 26 (IANS) Nat Sciver-Brunt stood up again to hit a solid 75 not out as Mumbai Indians jumped to the top of the standings in the Women’s Premier League (WPL) 2025 with a comfortable eight-wicket win over UP Warriorz at the M. Chinnaswamy Stadium on Wednesday. After Nat picked 3-18, her best WPL bowling figures, to help MI restrict UPW to a below-par 142/9, the all-rounder rose to the occasion by hitting an unbeaten 75 off 44 balls, laced with 13 fours, to close the chase with three balls to spare.
She found good support from Hayley Matthews, who chipped in with 59 off 50 balls, as the duo shared a match-winning 133-run partnership for the second wicket. MI were slow off the blocks in the run-chase, but Nat’s entry and her partnership with Hayley got them their third straight win of this competition.
Chasing 143, MI had early luck as Hayley was dropped by Sophie Ecclestone at first slip off Chinelle Henry’s bowling. But MI lost Yastika Bhatia in the fourth over, as she picked out deep mid-wicket off Deepti Sharma and went back for an eight-ball duck. Hayley struggled to connect anything against Chinelle before breaking the shackles by pulling her over square-leg for six. Nat got going by heaving, driving, and whipping Saima Thakor for a hat-trick of boundaries as MI ended the power-play at 33/1.
After that, Hayley and Nat continued to find boundaries with ease and keep up with the rising required run rate. Chinelle was brought on for her final over, and Nat smashed her down the ground before uppercutting and pulling to hit a hat-trick of fours in the 11th over. Nat brought up her sixth WPL fifty off 29 balls by rocking back and pulling Sophie through mid-wicket for four before cutting and swatting off the spinner for consecutive boundaries.
Deepti’s return into the bowling attack didn’t bring much difference as Nat moved across to sweep and paddle-scoop off her for back-to-back boundaries.
Hayley rocked back to pull Grace Harris between long-on and deep midwicket for four before smacking her for a six on the free hit. After bringing up her fifty off 45 balls, Hayley edged and swatted Grace for back-to-back boundaries as 22 runs came off the 16th over. Though Hayley fell to Sophie for 59, Harmanpreet Kaur finished off the chase with an inside edge, going for four to give MI an easy win.
Brief scores:
UP Warriorz 142/9 in 20 overs (Grace Harris 45, Vrinda Dinesh 33; Nat Sciver-Brunt 3-18, Sanskriti Gupta 2-11) lost to Mumbai Indians 143/2 in 17 overs (Nat Sciver-Brunt 75 not out, Hayley Matthews 59; Deepti Sharma 1-25, Sophie Ecclestone 1-29) by eight wickets
–IANS
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