WPL 2023, MI vs UPW live blog: UP Warriorz win by five wickets, hand Mumbai Indians first loss

That will be all for the blog. UP Warriorz keep the points table interesting. Head on to our blog for the RCB vs GG encounter for more drama.

WPL 2023, Royal Challengers Bangalore vs Gujarat Giants live blog

Player of the match: Deepti Sharma

UP Warriorz innings: A proper showing from the spinners earlier and handy knocks from Grace Harris and Tahlia McGrath in the middle sees them through. Deepti and Ecclestone keep their nerves in the end to close down the thriller. UP Warriorz keep their hopes for a Top 3 finish alive.

UPW 129/5 (19.3 overs): UP Warriorz win by 5 wickets!

Ecclestone finishes in style. A six to seal the deal and the UP Warriorz are pumped as they hand the table-toppers the first loss of the season.

UPW 123/5 (19 overs): Deepti Sharma aims for a six but it goes for four instead. MI review LBW and they reckon Ecclestone is short but she is home. Eight runs off the over.

UPW 115/5 (18 overs): Ecclestone can hit! A four through backward square leg off Kerr and UP Warriorz inch closer. Six runs off the over.

UPW 109/5 (17 overs): It’s getting tighter. UP Warriorz need 19 off 17. Saika Ishaque keeps it economical, with just three runs conceded.

UPW 105/5 (15.4 overs): WICKET! Well-set Grace Harris departs. Kerr with the breakthrough as Wong takes a running catch at long-on. A twist in the tale? Simran Shaikh and Sophie Ecclestone still to come but this could get tight.

UPW 97/4 (15 overs): Pace from Mumbai Indians as Amanjot Kaur comes on to bowl but Harris scoops one over fine leg for four and follows it up with a cut across backward point. There’s an opportunity for a run-out in the fifth delivery but Harris dives in just in time. 11 runs off the over.

UPW 86/4 (14 overs): Tidy from Hayley Matthews, just four runs off the over.

UPW 82/4 (13 overs): Harris has to take charge after McGrath’s dismissal and it looks like that’s the plan. Back-to-back boundaries from the Australian all-rounder against Sciver-Brunt. 10 runs of the over.

Deepti Sharma joins Grace Harris.

UPW 71/4 (11.5 overs): WICKET! That’s a big one. Still hope for MI? Harris can do damage from here on but McGrath was looking mighty dangerous. Four and out as Kerr doesn’t err with the caught & bowled chance. McGrath c & b Kerr 38 (25 balls)

UPW 66/3 (11 overs): Kinda evident even then that the McGrath drop was going to be costly. Three fours in the Ishaque over, two very good cover drives. Then a streaky outside edge.

UPW 52/3 (10 overs): Kerr with a tidy over of leg spin. Pace off is the way to go but MI continuing to trust their pacers too. At least for now.

UPW 51/3 (9 overs): Must be so frustrating for Wong to see McGrath hit her for a four and six when she bowled a peach that should have ended her innings. Big over for UPW.

UPW 39/3 (8 overs): Both Harris and McGrath can go big after getting set so they can take their time here. Tidy over by Ishaque.

UPW 34/3 (7 overs): Harris and McGrath in the middle. This is the partnership that can win it for UP.

UPW 27/3 (6.1 overs): WICKET! MI be like, we will take blinders and drop the sitters. Yastika Bhatia with a stunning one-handed take down the leg side as Navgire gloves a short ball. Navgire c Bhatia b Nat Sciver-Brunt 12 (16 balls)

UPW 27/2 (6 overs): DROPPED! Oh dear, it’s contagious for real. Terrific delivery from Wong, on length and shaping away. McGrath is stuck in the crease and the outside edge is put down by Bhatia. Shame for the pacer.

UPW 21/2 (5.1 overs): WICKET! Wongy strikes! Great review there by MI. Healy misses one that shaped back in slightly and DRS says all red. Healy lbw b Wong 8 (10 balls)

UPW 21/1 (5 overs): Tidy start by Ishaque, just one run in that over.

UPW 20/1 (4 overs): And the drops are hurting MI already. A four for Healy past short fine and a six by Navgire to finish the over.

UPW 7/1 (3 overs): DROPPED, DROPPED! When it’s a bad fielding day, it catches on quickly... MI (arguably the best fielding side of the tournament so far), drop two catches off two balls in NSB’s over. First Healy is put down at long leg by A Kaur, then Navgire is out down at point by Kazi.

UPW 2/1 (2 overs): Another terrific over for MI, Matthews with a wicket and one run.

UPW 1/1 (1.1 over): WICKET! India’s best fielder is at it again. Hayley Matthews gets the outside edge and the MI captain dives to her right and plucks a one-hander. Vaidya is out for a 6-ball 1.

UPW 1/0 (1 over): Terrific over from Nat Sciver-Brunt to start off, five dot balls to Vaidya and a single. Keeps Alyssa Healy off strike for a little while longer.

Alyssa Healy and Devika Vaidya in the middle. Target is 128.

Mumbai Indians innings: The pitches are slowing down, for sure and contests are getting closer, bowlers are coming back into the game but this was a particularly special performance from UP Warriorz’s spinners. Ecclestone takes the purple cap as the unbeaten table-toppers were bowled out for 127.

MI 127 all out (19.6 overs): WICKET! Run out, again! Saika Ishaque is the last batter dismissed. Another brilliant direct-hit from Deepti. She not only finishes with two wickets but helps UPW wrap the innings up on a high with that fielding effort.

MI 127/9 (19.4 overs): WICKET! Issy Wong is run out for a 19-ball 32. A great cameo but it comes to an end courtesy a fantastic throw for a direct hit by Deepti Sharma.

MI 116/8 (19 overs): Sophie Ecclestone finishes her spell with 3/15. A brilliant spell, beginning with big wickets of Sciver-Brunt and Matthews and then, Amanjot. Tidy penultimate over, just four runs off it.

MI 111/8 (16.6 overs): WICKET! The lower-order not really coming through for Mumbai Indians. Deepti Sharma also gets her second as Dhara Gujjar departs.

MI 103/7 (16.6 overs): WICKET! Gayakwad gets her second. Humaira Kazi goes for the slog but misses it. She departs for 4.

MI 98/6 (15.5 overs): WICKET! Ecclestone has her third. Amanjot Kaur departs for five. She could’ve had Issy Wong too earlier but Kiran Navgire spilled one and it also went for four. Ecclestone having a day to remember, still.

MI 92/5 (15 overs): She has been taken for a few boundaries but hasn’t bowled all that bad. Not the first outing Parshavi would have hoped for as she finishes wicketless but expect her to feature in a few more games and find that rhythm. 11 runs off the over.

MI 78/5 (13.2 overs): WICKET! Deepti Sharma gets the MI skipper. Healy reckoned there was something on the previous delivery as well but the DRS rescued Kaur, only for her to be dismissed in the next ball.

MI 77/4 (12.6 overs): WICKET! Kerr attempts to sweep Gayakwad off in the final deliver but ends up top-edging it. Parshavi catches it at backward square leg.

MI 67/3 (12 overs): Parshavi was doing well to bowl loopy deliveries whilst varying her lengths but the Indian skipper wins the battle against the leg-spinner, making the adjustment in the last two deliveries. Two back to back boundaries to end the over.

MI 57/3 (10.4 overs): WICKET! Matthews departs. And spin causes her undoing yet again in this tournament. Who else but Ecclestone, who has taken the two big wickets of Matthews and Sciver-Brunt...

MI 56/2 (10 overs): Choking the opposition by spin, the UP Warriorz way. Deepti Sharma bowls her first. It was going well but Matthews takes the final delivery on and clears deep mid-wicket with a pull for six.

Parshavi said that she was keen on bowling to India captain and Mumbai Indians’ Harmanpreet Kaur. And, here she is!

Read more:
WPL: Meet Parshavi Chopra, India’s U-19 bowler who was inspired by Shane Warne to take up leg spin

MI 45/2 (9 overs): After a tight over from Ecclestone where she conceded only two, along with the wicket of Sciver-Brunt, Parshavi continues to build the pressure with five conceded in her second over.

MI 39/2 (7.4 overs): WICKET! Englishwoman to Englishwoman - Sophie Ecclestone strikes in her very first over and Nat Sciver-Brunt has to depart for 5.

“When I started cricket, I started as a medium pacer but I found myself watching a lot of Shane Warne videos. He is my idol, one can say. After watching him, I was drawn towards leg-spin and that is an art I wanted to learn. They say it’s cricket’s toughest art, after all. If you are able to master it then it’s really good.”

— - Parshavi Chopra in a conversation with Scroll.in

MI 38/1 (7 overs): Parshavi Chopra, India’s leading wicket-taker at the U19 World Cup, comes on to bowl some leg-spin. Sciver-Brunt flicks one off deep mid-wicket for four. Seven runs off the over.

MI 31/1 (6 overs): Gayakwad attempts a c&b against Nat Sciver-Brunt but the ball hurts her hand instead. Just the one run conceded off the over. Spin continues to pile on the pressure for Matthews.

MI 30/1 (4.5 overs): WICKET! Anjali Sarvani bounces back, after the misfield and also after the first over. Yastika Bhatia departs for 7.

MI 24/0 (4 overs): After a quiet first over, Grace Harris is taken for two back-to-back sixes in the over by Hayley Matthews. The pressure is released with great ease. 13 runs off the over. There was a chance there to get Yastika but Anjali messes up with the catch at cover.

MI 11/0 (3 overs): Pace for the first time in the innings as Anjali Sarvani comes on to bowl. Five runs off the over.

MI 6/0 (2 overs): Back-to-back spin from UPWarriorz. Grace Harris comes in next to bowl and concedes just two runs off it. Yastika attempts to go big in the first delivery itself but it’s a good fielding effort in the deep that saves it from touching the boundary.

MI 4/0 (1 over): Four runs off the first over.

Yastika Bhatia and Hayley Matthews will open the innings for Mumbai Indians. Rajeshwari Gayakwad will open the bowling for UP Warriorz.

Teams:

Mumbai Indians: Hayley Matthews, Yastika Bhatia(w), Nat Sciver-Brunt, Harmanpreet Kaur(c), Amelia Kerr, Issy Wong, Humaira Kazi, Dhara Gujjar, Amanjot Kaur, Jintimani Kalita, Saika Ishaque

UP Warriorz: Alyssa Healy(w/c), Devika Vaidya, Kiran Navgire, Tahlia McGrath, Grace Harris, Deepti Sharma, Parshavi Chopra, Simran Shaikh, Sophie Ecclestone, Anjali Sarvani, Rajeshwari Gayakwad

U-19 World Cup leg-spinner Parshavi Chopra comes in.

Here’s our conversation from her earlier: Meet Parshavi Chopra, India’s U-19 bowler who was inspired by Shane Warne to take up leg spin

TOSS: UP Warriorz won the toss and elected to field first.

2:50 pm: Hello and welcome to the live coverage of Women’s Premier League. It’s match No 15 and Alyssa Healy-led UP Warriorz will be hoping to get a win that will take them closer to a Top 3 finish. They take on Harmanpreet Kaur’s undefeated Mumbai Indians at DY Patil Stadium, Navi Mumbai.

UP Warriorz have a task on their hands. They must prevail in the points table mayhem to finish in the Top 3. At this stage, it’d seem 8 points are sufficient for UPW. After coming off a loss against Royal Challengers Bangalore, they go up against an unbeaten and already-qualified Mumbai Indians.

And oh yes, it’s the second of Harmanpreet Kaur vs Alyssa Healy derbys. Where does luck turn to today?

UPW vs MI blog: Harmanpreet Kaur, Nat Sciver-Brunt take Mumbai to 4th straight win

TOSS: Alyssa Healy opts to bat first

First innings: UPW 159/6 after 20 overs

Second innings: MI 164/2 after 17.3 overs

Photos / screenshots in the blog courtesy: Sportzpics / wplt20.com and JioCinema