On Saturday, Mumbai Indians played the opening game of the TATA Women’s Premier League against Gujarat Giants at the DY Patil stadium. Mumbai Indians posted a huge score of 207, with their captain Harmanpreet Kaur smashing a 30-ball 65. Hayley Matthews and Amelia Kerr also made valuable contributions with 47 and 45* respectively. The Mumbai Indians spinners then dominated the opposition with Saika Ishaque taking four wickets and Kerr picking up two to restrict Gujarat Giants to 64/9.
Chasing a challenging target of 208, Gujarat Giants struggled from the start. Their captain, Beth Mooney, was forced to leave the field with a leg injury in the first over and did not return to bat. Nat Sciver-Brunt then dismissed Harleen Deol a ball later, followed by Asleigh Gardner caught at slip by Issy Wong in the next over, and S Meghana cleaned up by Sciver-Brunt in the over after that. Left-arm spinner Ishaque picked up Annabel Sutherland in her first over to clean up the top order. Gujarat Giants were reduced to 17/4 in the Powerplay.
Ishaque and Kerr continued to trouble the opposition, with Ishaque cleaning up Georga Wareham and Kerr dismissing Sneh Rana and Tanuja Kanwar to leave Gujarat Giants struggling at 23/7. Dayalan Hemalatha and Mansi Joshi added some resistance, putting on 26 runs for the ninth wicket. However, Ishaque returned to dismiss Joshi LBW via a successful review and then cleaned up Monica Patel to secure the win for Mumbai Indians.
Earlier, Gujarat Giants won the toss and elected to field first. Gardner opened the bowling and only gave away two singles in the first over. Matthews then hit six and four off consecutive balls in the second over off Mansi Joshi. Nat Sciver-Brunt and Matthews put on a strong partnership, hitting five fours in the Powerplay and taking the score to 44/1. However, the Gujarat Giants fought back with Wareham dismissing Nat Sciver-Brunt and Gardner cleaning up Matthews for 47. Kaur and Kerr then took charge, smashing the opposition bowlers all over the ground to bring up the first fifty of the tournament off just 22 balls. Kaur hit seven fours in a row before being dismissed by Sneh Rana for a well-made 65. Kerr and Pooja Vastrakar finished the innings in style, hitting several fours and sixes to help Mumbai Indians reach a formidable total of 207/6.
Match Info:
| Match | GGT vs MIW, 1st Match, Women’s Premier League 2023 |
| Date | Saturday, March 04, 2023 |
| Time | 8:00 PM |
| Venue | Dr DY Patil Sports Academy, Navi Mumbai |
| Umpires | Nitin Pandit, Vrinda Rathi |
| Third Umpire | Pashchim Pathak |
| Match Referee | GS Lakshmi |
Score Card