WPL 2023: Mumbai Indians storm into final after Nat Sciver-Brunt 72 not out, Issy Wong hat-trick vs UP Warriorz

Mumbai Indians, on Friday, March 24, stormed into the final of the Women’s Premier League (WPL) 2023 after beating the UP Warriorz by 72 runs in the Eliminator at the Dr DY Patil Sports Academy in Mumbai.

MI are scheduled to face Meg Lanning’s Delhi Capitals (DC) in the first ever WPL final on Sunday, March 26 at the Brabourne Stadium in Mumbai.

Nat Sciver-Brunt and Issy Wong starred for MI in the must-win encounter. Sciver-Brunt raced her way to 72 runs off 38 balls with nine fours and two sixes. On the back of her knock, MI were able to set the Warriors a stiff target of 183 to chase down.

Wong, on the other hand, scripted history after she became the first bowler to pick up a hat-trick in the history of the WPL. The 20-year-old England speedster dismissed Kiran Navgire, Simran Shaikh and Sophie Ecclestone to accomplish the feat.

Wong finished with figures of 4-0-15-4 and the over where she got the hat-trick became the turning point of the match. Wong also got the prized wicket of Alyssa Healy, who didn’t quite have a memorable 33rd birthday.

Healy started her knock with two fours before holing out to MI skipper Harmanpreet Kaur. Apart from Sciver-Brunt, Amelia Kerr and Pooja Vastrakar also played their parts.

Kerr scored 29 runs off 19 balls and was severe on Ecclestone in the penultimate over of MI’s innings. Vastrakar injected momentum into the innings by hitting Deepti Sharma for a four followed by a six in the first two balls of the 20th over.

Navgire was the standout batter for the Warriorz after she scored 43 runs off 27 balls with four fours and three sixes. With the required run-rate going up, Grace Harris tried to take the attack to Sciver-Brunt, but holed out to Wong, who was stationed at long on.

After Navgire got out, the writing was pretty much on the walls for the Warriorz, who were bowled out for 110 in 17.4 overs.