Image Credit- MI
Is Harmanpreet Kaur,
the regular captain, still unfit? Shabnim Ismail, a top-tier fast bowler, is
also unavailable? a crowded stadium with supporters of the home team?
Nat-Sciver Brunt expressed no issues as she skillfully led the Mumbai Indians,
hushed the M Chinnaswamy supporters, and watched her team soar to the top of
the WPL 2024 points standings.
Through her captaincy and all-around play, Sciver-Brunt had set the stage for
Mumbai’s 132-run chase in 15.1 overs, long before Amelia Kerr caressed a Georgia
Wareham delivery through point.
With only two days
to mourn, Sciver-Brunt was under pressure to get back to work quickly because
Harmanpreet and Ismail were still missing. But this time, she came across as
lot more composed and in charge right away. As the night wears on, the majority
of the WPL’s surfaces have demonstrated a propensity to get better for batting.
Sciver-Brunt recognised that obtaining wickets would be crucial, so she started
ringing in the changes in an attempt to keep the hitters from establishing a
rhythm.
After six overs,
Mumbai used four different bowlers. At no time during the game did anyone
receive more than a two; most of the spells were simply one-overs. And the
strategy was successful. In the third over, Issy Wong dismissed Smriti Mandhana
after Sciver-Brunt made a smart catch and backpedalled from extra cover. S
Meghana was caught by the captain herself, who used a great bouncer. When the
powerplay ended, RCB’s run rate was less than six runs per over and they had
already lost three wickets.
None of the RCB batters, with the exception of Ellyse Perry (44) and Wareham
(27), appeared settled at any point. And the bowlers themselves should take the
credit for that, as well as Sciver-Brunt for her skillful manoeuvring of them.
Now that the ball
had done its job, it was time for Sciver-Brunt, the hitter, to take centre
stage. She entered the game as Mumbai was already winning, with Yastika Bhatia
having just fallen off the wicket. Mumbai stormed to 60 for 1 in their
powerplay, with Sciver-Brunt starting the scoring with a slick reverse paddle
past short third, and then square-driving Sophie Devine past point.
From that point on, it was more about supporting her all the way to
Sciver-Brunt’s finish line. Kerr proved to be her ally, consistently seeing
boundaries while the captain was content to give up the fight. When
Sciver-Brunt was dismissed for 27, victory was only 14 runs away. The pair
had put on 49 runs in 35 balls for the third wicket.
With abundant of
runs and wickets, Sciver-Brunt was the driving force behind Mumbai’s WPL 2023
championship victory. Even with the additional duty of filling in the captain,
she isn’t deterred. Although her form may not be as perfect as it was in the
previous season, her presence and cricketing acumen will be crucial to Mumbai’s
hopes of adding more hardware to their collection.