WPL 2023: Mumbai Indians make history after scoring 207 for 5 against Gujarat Giants

Mumbai Indians, on Saturday, March 4, racked up a massive score of 207 for the loss of five wickets in the opening match of the Women’s Premier League (WPL) 2023 against Beth Mooney’s Gujarat Giants at the DY Patil Sports Complex in Mumbai.

MI, thereby, became the first women’s T20 team (excluding Women’s T20Is) to score in excess of 200 in an inning on Indian soil. The Mumbai-based team broke the record of 190 for 5 set by Trailblazers against Velocity in the Women’s T20 Challenge match last year in Pune.

After being put in to bat first, MI lost the early wicket of Yastika Bhatia as Tanuja Kanwar became the first-ever bowler to get a wicket in the WPL. Thereafter, Hayley Matthews and Nat Sciver-Brunt put on 54 runs for the



second wicket.

Matthews was aggressive as she scored 47 runs off 31 balls with three fours and four sixes before Ash Gardner rattled her woodwork. Harmanpreet Kaur batted at No.4 and raced to a half-century off 22 balls. The MI skipper went on to score 65 runs off 30 balls with 14 fours.

Amelia Kerr was also effective with the bat as she stayed unbeaten on 45 runs off 24 balls with six fours and one six. Pooja Vastrakar’s cameo of 15 runs took MI past the 200-run mark.

Mumbai finished their innings off in style after Issy Wong smacked Sneh Rana for a six over the mid-wicket boundary. Rana picked up two wickets but leaked 43 runs in four overs. Gardner, Kanwar, and Georgia Wareham accounted for one scalp apiece.