On Saturday on the Arun Jaitley Stadium, Harmanpreet Kaur turned the clock again to 2017. In what’s arguably one of the best knock of the Girls’s Premier League to this point, the India captain produced a chasing masterclass to assist Mumbai Indians change into the primary group to qualify for the playoffs.
The comparisons to her unimaginable 171* within the 2017 World Cup semifinal have been unavoidable. A sedate begin. A gentle shifting of the gears. An explosive end. Beth Mooney, the Gujarat Giants captain, would have had a way of deja vu. She – together with Ash Gardner – witnessed an all-time nice World Cup knockout innings in Australia’s colors that day in Derby. In orange this time, they have been as soon as once more on the receiving finish as MI chased down 191 with a ball to spare.
On that day in 2017, she scored her 100 off 90 balls and the smashed her final 71 runs off 25 deliveries. On this chase, she was on 20 off 21 balls on the finish of the 14th over, Mumbai’s rating – by the way – learn 100. And that’s when the foot firmly went on the pedal.
With MI needing 91 off 36 balls, Harmanpreet went after Meghna Singh within the fifteenth over. A six and two fours shifted the momentum. Within the sixteenth over, a slice of luck. Phoebe Litchfield was taking absolute stunners in Australia’s colors throughout their go to to India a few months again. Right here, she dropped a sitter at lengthy on. The ball trickled to the fence for 4.
Within the 18th over, Harmanpreet dismantled Sneh Rana with easy aggression. 4, 0, 6, 4, 4, 6. It was the over that actually ignited the evening – whereas additionally setting off the sprinkler within the outfield that brought about the delay.
Because it turned out, for Giants, it was solely delaying the inevitable. A six every within the nineteenth and twentieth overs, and shortly Harmanpreet Kaur leapt in pleasure. A day after turning 35, Harmanpreet supplied a throwback to the day Indian cricket modified ceaselessly. In some ways, the 171* paved the way in which for the WPL to finally change into a actuality. And on that very stage, she supplied a pleasant reminder that she’s nonetheless received it.
Temporary scores for Mumbai Indians vs Gujarat Giants:
Gujarat Giants 190/7 in 20 overs (Beth Mooney 66, Dayalan Hemalatha 74; Saika Ishaque 2/31) misplaced to Mumbai Indians 191/3 in 19.5 overs (Yastika Bhatia 49, Harmanpreet Kaur 95*; Tanuja Kanwar 1/21) by 7 wickets.