WPL Final: Mumbai Indians win inaugural title, hand Delhi Capitals 7-wicket defeat

Mumbai Indians captain Harmanpreet Kaur (left) lifts the inaugural WPL title (Reuters image)

Mumbai Indians emerged as the winner of the inaugural edition of Women's Premier League (WPL), defeating Delhi Capitals by 7 wickets in a tightly contested final played at Mumbai's Brabourne Stadium on March 26.

Put to bat second, the MI side had a reasonable target of 132 runs, which they ended chasing down in the 20th over against a tight DC bowling attack.

The run chase was led by English batter Nat Sciver-Brunt, who remained unbeaten for her knock of 60 runs off 55 balls. She was accompanied for most of the innings by skipper Harmanpreet Kaur, who scored 37 (39) before being run out in the 17th over.

Although DC was in the game till the 20th over due to the required run rate, the bowlers failed to tilt the game in their favour due to the failure to bag wickets. After dismissing openers Hayley Mathews (13) and Yasika Bhatia (4), they failed to find any breakthrough.

Earlier, skipper Meg Lanning (35 off 29 balls) was the top-scorer for DC. Shafali Verma (11) and Marizanne Kapp (18) also reached double figures but could not capitalise on as DC were looking down the barrel at 79 for 9 in 16 overs.

Shikha Pandey (27 not out) and Radha Yadav (27 not out) then added 52 runs off just 24 balls to take DC to a competitive score.

Matthews returned with incredible figures of 4-2-5-3, while Issy Wong (3/42) continued her sensational run, claiming three more wickets and Melie Kerr (2/18) was the other wicket taker for MI.

Brief Score: Delhi Capitals: 131 for 9 in 20 overs (Meg Lanning 35; Hayley Matthews 3/5, Issy Wong 3/42).

Mumbai Indians: 134 for 3 in 19.3 overs (Nat Sciver-Brunt 60 not out, Harmanpreet kaur 37; Radha Yadav 1/24).

With PTI inputs