Inaugural WPL edition: The top performers | Cricket News – Times of India

<p>Nat Sciver-Brunt hit an unbeaten half-century to steer Mumbai Indians to a seven-wicket victory over Delhi Capitals in the inaugural Women’s Premier League final on Sunday.</p>

<p>Issy Wong and Hayley Matthews set up the victory as they claimed three wickets each after Delhi elected to bat first at the Brabourne Stadium. </p>

<p>Delhi crumbled under pressure despite a late blitz from Shikha Pandey (27*) and Radha Yadav (27*) lifted the team from 79/9 to bat out the innings. </p>

<p>Wong rattled the opposition top-order and then Matthews demolished the Delhi batting as she returned figures of 3/5. </p>

<p>Delhi looked down and out before number eight Shikha put on an unbeaten 52-run 10th-wicket stand off just 24 balls with Radha to take the total past 100. </p>

<p>Wong struck twice in her first over with the wickets of Shafali Verma (11) and Alice Capsey (0) to put Delhi on the back foot.</p>

<p>Skipper Meg Lanning and Jemimah Rodrigues hit back with four boundaries but Wong struck again with the wicket of Rodrigues as Delhi fell to 35/3.</p>

<p>The in-form Lanning consolidated her top spot in the tournament batting charts with 345 runs but her run out hurt Delhi badly. </p>

<p>Delhi kept losing wickets and collapsed from 73/3 with Amelia Kerr returning with 2/18 as Mumbai restricted Delhi to 131/9.</p>

<p>Mumbai overhauled the target with three balls to spare after a key 72-run third-wicket stand between Sciver-Brunt (60*) and skipper Harmanpreet Kaur (37).</p>

<p>Mumbai lost their openers inside four overs but Kaur and Sciver-Brunt soaked up the pressure.</p>

<p>The stand was broken with Kaur’s run out but there was no stopping Sciver-Brunt. </p>

<p>Sciver-Brunt raised her third half-century of the tournament to anchor the team home with Amelia Kerr (14*) in an unbeaten stand of 39. </p>

<p>Sciver-Brunt hit the winning boundary as the Mumbai dugout erupted in celebrations as the women added to the record five IPL crowns of the men’s team.</p>

<p>”It (the win) means everything. At the start of the competition I didn’t know what to expect,” player of the match Sciver-Brunt said. </p>

<p>”Coming together with a special group of girls with the Mumbai Indians, really special to be standing here.” </p>

<p>Kaur said: “It feels like a dream, for everyone here. So many people were asking when will the WPL come and that day is here, and we are so happy and proud.” </p>

<p>”We would have loved to win tonight, but full credit to Mumbai Indians they have been excellent throughout the tournament, so they deserved their win,” said Lanning. </p>