Mumbai Indians Opt to Bowl First Against UP Warriorz in WPL Clash
Match Overview
Navi Mumbai, Jan 17: The Mumbai Indians, the reigning champions, won the toss and opted to bowl first against the unchanged UP Warriorz in the 10th match of the Women’s Premier League (WPL) at DY Patil Stadium on Saturday.
Team Changes
While the UP Warriorz maintained their lineup from the last match, the Mumbai Indians made two adjustments, welcoming back Hayley Matthews and introducing Nalla Kranthi Reddy for her debut.
Warriorz's Recent Performance
The UP Warriorz had a challenging start with three consecutive losses but rebounded impressively by defeating the Mumbai Indians by seven wickets on Thursday. Harleen Deol played a pivotal role in this victory, scoring 64 runs off 39 balls, demonstrating both power and composure. Despite this win, the Warriorz still find themselves at the bottom of the points table.
Mumbai Indians' Strategy
On the other hand, the Mumbai Indians were looking to regain their winning form after a narrow loss in their opening match. Following their recent defeat to the Warriorz, they slipped to second place in the standings.
After the toss, MI captain Harmanpreet Kaur stated, "We’re going to bowl first today. As a team, we decided to chase because chasing has always been our strength, and we just want to go back to our strengths. Looking at the conditions today, we’ve brought Matthews back into the side, and Ismail is resting. It is mainly because of the conditions and because we’re playing a day match. We feel Matthews is going to play a very big role on this pitch, so we’ve made one change."
She further added, "Apart from that, we have another change. Poonam is not playing today, and Kanchan is going to make her debut. Conditions are going to play a very big role in this tournament, and at the same time, we want to give equal chances to all the players. We’re heading into the main part of the tournament, and hopefully everyone will get used to these conditions and give their best."
Warriorz's Captain's Remarks
UP Warriorz captain Meg Lanning commented, "We would have bowled first as well. That seems to be the trend. But in the day games at the start of the tournament, Gujarat batted well first up, so there’s certainly an opportunity there with the bat. Looking forward to it. I think you’ve got to be able to do it well. We’re really looking forward to coming up against Mumbai again. I know they’ll be looking to bounce back, but we’re ready for that. We feel we can improve a few things as well, so excited to go out there and do it. We’re going with the same team as the last game."
Playing XIs
UP Warriorz Women: Kiran Navgire, Meg Lanning (c), Phoebe Litchfield, Harleen Deol, Shweta Sehrawat (w), Chloe Tryon, Deepti Sharma, Sophie Ecclestone, Asha Sobhana Joy, Shikha Pandey, Kranti Gaud.
Mumbai Indians Women: Hayley Matthews, Gunalan Kamalini (w), Amelia Kerr, Nat Sciver-Brunt, Harmanpreet Kaur (c), Amanjot Kaur, Nicola Carey, Sajeevan Sajana, Sanskriti Gupta, Nalla Kranthi Reddy, Triveni Vasistha.