Mumbai Indians set the stage on fire at the DY Patil stadium by defeating the Gujarat Giants by 143 runs in the opening game of the TATA Women's Premier League on Saturday.
MI captain Harmanpreet Kaur led the way with the bat with a power-packed 30-ball 65. Hayley Matthews (47) and Amelia Kerr (45*) too chipped in with vital knocks to help MI post 207.
The MI spinners then spun a web as Saika Ishaque picked up four wickets while Kerr scalped two to restrict the Giants to 64/9.
Chasing a daunting target of 208, Gujarat Giants got off to a tricky start. Their captain Beth Mooney hobbled off the field with a leg injury in the first over and didn't return to bat. And then a ball later, Nat Sciver-Brunt sent back Harleen Deol. The Giants lost another one in the next over when Asleigh Gardner was caught at slip off Issy Wong and then another one in the next over as Nat Sciver-Brunt cleaned up S Meghana. Left-arm spinner Ishaque then struck in her first over to clean up Annabel Sutherland who shuffled across to paddle but missed it completely. GG were reduced to 17/4 in the Powerplay.
The wickets continued to tumble as Ishaque cleaned up Georga Wareham and Amelia Kerr sent back Sneh Rana and Tanuja Kanwar to reduce GG to 23/7. Dayalan Hemalatha and Mansi Joshi then put on a semblance of a fight, adding 26 runs for the ninth wicket. However, Ishaque then came back to trap Joshi LBW via a successful review and finished it off by cleaning up Monica Patel to win it for Mumbai Indians.
Earlier, Gujarat Giants captain Mooney won the toss and asked Mumbai Indians to bat first.
Gardner opened the bowling and gave away just two singles in the first over. Hayley Matthews then got things going for the Mumbai Indians with a six and a four off consecutive balls, off Mansi Joshi in the second over. She pulled one over deep square leg for the first six of the tournament and then sliced one wide of third man for a four. Mooney then introduced left-arm spinner Kanwar in the third over and she struck off just her third ball, having Yastika Bhatia caught at backward point.
Nat Sciver-Brunt opened her boundary count with a powerful pull shot over square leg, off Joshi. She along with Matthews upped the ante to take the score to 44/1 at the end of the Powerplay with the duo hitting five fours in that period.
Matthews, who looked in good touch right from the start, then went on a six hitting spree, smacking Sutherland for a couple of maximums before slog sweeping one over deep mid-wicket off Annabel Sutherland.
However, against the run of play, the Gujarat Giants bounced back as Wareham had Nat Sciver-Brunt caught at mid off and in the next over Gardner cleaned up Matthews for 47. MI reached 77/3 at the half-way stage.
The see-saw battle continued as MI captain Kaur didn't take time to get going and unfurled a range of shots - cover drive, slog sweeps, cuts and pulls - to hit six fours in space of 11 balls. Kaur along with Kerr counter-attacked to bring up the 50-run stand, off just 25 balls. Kaur went from strength to strength as she smacked four consecutive fours off Monica Patel and then slog swept Gardner for another to bring up the first fifty of the WPL, off just 22 balls. In that phase, the MI captain hit a total of seven fours in a row.
Sneh Rana finally broke the 89-run stand as she removed Kaur (65 off 30 balls), who walked off to a standing ovation, in the 17th over.
Kerr and Pooja Vastrakar didn't let the momentum break and smashed a slew of fours and sixes to power MI past 200. Issy Wong finished the innings in style with a six off the last ball as MI posted 207/6. Kerr remained unbeaten on 45 off 24. MI hit a total of 31 4s and six 6s.