Mumbai Indian Left Arm Spinner Saika Ishaque currently leads the list of Women’s Premier League (WPL) wicket-takers with nine wickets in his kitty, and he left England pacer Kate Cross powerfully impressed.
“She got a head start on Hayley Matthews, her teammate. She plays from stump to stump, and she changes the angles she plays from. She played with the cap and I don’t think she wants the remove,” Kate was quoted as saying by Sports18 and JioCinema.
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WPL 2023: Dominant Mumbai Indians record third straight win
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Mumbai Indians produced a clinical performance to beat Delhi Capitals by eight wickets in Game 7 of the Women’s Premier League 2023 on Thursday.
It was Mumbai’s third consecutive win in the league.
Mumbai Indians lead the standings with six points.
The Delhi Capitals, on the other hand, suffered their first defeat and are in second place with four points.
Following brilliant bowling performances from Issy Wong (3/10), Saika Ishaque (3/13) and Hayley Matthews (3/19), Mumbai Indians beat Delhi Capitals for 105 runs in 18 overs.
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Issy, Saika and Hayley continued to pick crucial wickets for Mumbai at regular intervals as only two Delhi batsmen, Meg Lanning (43 of 41) and Jemimah Rodrigues (25 of 18), fought.
In response, fly-half Yastika Bhatia played a good shot (41 of 32) for the Mumbai Indians before going out in the 9th.
Yastika’s shot was dotted with 8 limits
Subsequently, the Delhi Capitals pulled out another opener Hayley Matthews (32 of 31) in the 12th but it wasn’t enough as Nat Sciver-Brunt (23 not out) and Harmanpreet Kaur (11) played a few shots adventurous to keep score – moving the board.
Nat Sciver and Harmanpreet sewed up a quick-fire 32-run stand for the third wicket as the Mumbai Indians chased the target in 15 overs with eight wickets in hand.
Saika took the opportunity that WPL gave players, especially those who are not capped, to show off their skills.
In Thursday’s game between MI and Delhi Capitals, Saika knocked out Shafali Verma, Meg Lanning and Jemimah Rodrigues in a game-changing spell to lay the groundwork for an eight-wicket win for the Mumbai Indians.
“She’s been a real find for this tournament and it’s great for her (captain Harmanpreet Kaur) to have players like that to throw the ball to her because she can find the breakthrough and T20 cricket is all about taking wickets “, said Kate.
Kate also felt that Mumbai, the only unbeaten team in the competition, were now strong contenders for the title.
(AI Image)
“Mumbai were absolutely great. They looked complete in all departments. They lost a few catches early on and that’s the only thing you can say about tonight that they weren’t perfect. They’ve been a brilliant team to watch. Who’ll catch them? I’m not too sure.”
(With contributions from the agency)