SYNOPSIS: Mumbai Indians won their 2nd WPL title, riding on clutch performances from their star players, led by a Harmanpreet Kaur special. For Delhi Capitals, three straight final defeats.
Meg Lanning’s Delhi Capitals faced yet another final heartbreak after having made it to three finals in three Women’s Premier League editions. Once again – as in the last two editions – it was their batting that let them down, as they fell short in the final hurdle at the Brabourne Stadium. Mumbai Indians clinched their second title, winning by 8 runs while defending 149/7, riding on match-winning performances from their star players. Leading the charge was Harmanpreet Kaur, the captain playing a sensational knock under pressure that proved to be the difference in the end.
Harmanpreet steps up
Before the tournament began, in the captain’s press meet, a question was posed whether we will finally see the first century in WPL this season. Meg Lanning predicted it would happen and three Australian batters, including the former Aussie captain, came close in Lucknow. Harmanpreet Kaur then chimed in with a prediction on who it might be, she put her own name up. It wasn’t quite a ton on the big night, but Harmanpreet’s 44-ball 66 is worth more than any century.
When she came into bat, MI were 14/2 in the 5th over. At the other end of the powerplay, the scoreboard read 20/2. DC couldn’t have possibly dreamt of a better start. In the Eliminator, she had to come in late after a huge partnership and blasted her way to a 12-ball 36.
But here, she had to dig in. Unsurprisingly, she played a few pre-meditated sweeps for singles to steady the ship, moving to 11 off 15 balls at the end of the 9th over. Then came the acceleration, as she welcomed Annabel Sutherland with a six over square leg. That was followed by a gorgeous off-drive past mid-off for a four. In the 11th over, she hit Jess Jonassen for a hat-trick of fours, manipulating the field expertly on the offside. Even when she was evidently starting to struggle with a leg issue, she cleared the field on the leg side off Jonassen for a huge six. Her last 55 runs came off just 29 balls.
At one point, when the stadium DJ was asking the crowd to chant her name, her teammates from the dugout joined in too, it was that sort of an innings.
Mumbai-Kerr magic
Her scores with the bat this season read: 9, 19, 2, 17, 10, 5, 9, and 2 in the final. Amelia Kerr is a much better batter than those numbers suggest and it was yet another disappointing effort from someone who sets high standards for herself. But that is the beauty of having an allrounder as elite as Kerr, because she can deliver on the other two skills. With the ball, she picked up 2/25, with two big breakthroughs. DC had managed to score 37/2 in the powerplay despite early setbacks, miles ahead of 20/2 from MI. But Kerr struck right after the 6-over mark to dismiss Jonassen, who had won a couple of matches for DC when promoted to bat at No 3.
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MI Celebration after the final wicket
Express Photo by Amit Chakravarty 15-03-25
Then came perhaps a bigger turning point. Jemimah Rodrigues was looking determined to finish a lean season on a high and hit Kerr for back-to-back fours at the start of the 11th over. Then Kerr threw one up slowly outside off, to draw a false shot from Rodrigues, following that up with her trademark wrong-un. Rodrigues could only get a leading edge, and there was Kerr, ready to show her fielding skills, sprinting forward in the follow-through and diving forward to take a brilliant return catch. Kerr finished the season with 18 wickets, joint top with Hayley Matthews.
NSB, the MVP
She became the first batter to score 1,000 runs in the history of WPL, and also crossed 500+ in a single season. But Nat Sciver-Brunt’s most significant contributions came with the ball in hand, in the company of retired South African legend Shabnim Ismail.
Despite a decent comeback with the bat, Lanning’s team would have taken 150 as a target to chase in a ground conducive to boundary hitting. With Shafali Verma and Meg Lanning at the top of the order, who have scored more than 1000 runs together, MI desperately needed a good start. Sciver-Brunt produced the first breakthrough to get one through Lanning’s defence and then Ismail bowled one of her expert off-cutters with the new ball, trapping Shafali plumb in front. Ismail finished with figures of 1/15 in her four overs.
WPL Final between Delhi Capitals Vs Mumbai Indian’s at Brabourne Stadium on Saturday evening.
Express Photo by Amit Chakravarty 15-03-2025, Mumbai.
Then, at the death, Sciver-Brunt came back to pick up the big wicket of Marizanne Kapp, who was playing her best innings of the season.
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Batting on 40 off 25 balls, the South African tried to hit one on the up down the ground but Hayley Matthews completed the catch. Shikha Pandey was bowled the next ball. And with 14 needed off 6 balls, she calmly delivered a final over with her cutters proving near impossible to put away for Delhi’s lower order. With figures of 3/30 in 4 overs – on a night when she couldn’t quite go big with the bat – Nat Sciver-Brunt signed off an incredible season with a clutch performance. By some distance, the WPL’s Most Valuable Player.
