The opening ceremony of the Women’s Premier League was held in full swing at Mumbai’s DY Patil Stadium amid a packed crowd. After those events, the first match between Gujarat Giants and Mumbai Indians began. When the men’s IPL started, the first match was between Kolkata and Bangalore. Brendon McCullum scored 158 for Kolkata in that match. McCullum’s innings was the red ribbon innings for the IPL’s biggest win. McCullum’s century would have seen Kolkata win the match by a huge margin of 140 runs. Will the Women’s Premier League get off to a rocky start like the IPL? Who will play an innings like McCullum did here? Which team will register a historic victory like Kolkata? A lot of questions were running through my mind.
Ravi Shastri congratulated Gujarat captain Beth Mooney who won the toss saying ‘Go out and have a Blast’. But, it was Mumbai Indians who actually performed the ‘Blast’ yesterday. Especially, Harmanpreet Kaur’s performance was unexpected. Mumbai Indians batted first and scored 207 runs. A score of 200+ in women’s T20Is is not a frequent occurrence. England scored 200+ against Pakistan in the recent Women’s T20 World Cup. England became the first team to score 200+ in the Women’s T20 World Cup. This statistic alone explains the rare bond between women’s cricket and 200+ scores. That being the case, a team scoring 200+ in such a debut match of a new season should be highly commended. Also, this performance by Mumbai Indians was a preview of what the quality of this series is going to be.
Captain Harmanpreet Gaur was the most important reason why Mumbai Indians reached 207 runs.
