Women's Premier League 2024

'Greatest T20 franchise on earth' - Fans hail Mumbai as they beat Delhi to clinch maiden Women's T20 League title

Mumbai defeated Delhi to clinch maiden Women's T20 League title in a low-scoring thriller at the Brabourne Stadium.

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Akshay
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Mumbai women's team

Mumbai women's team (Image credits: Twitter)

Mumbai women's team Mumbai women's team (Image credits: Twitter)

Mumbai made history at the Brabourne Stadium on Sunday, March 26, defeating Delhi by 7 wickets to clinch the maiden Women's T20 League title in a low-scoring thriller. The 20-20 World Cup-winning captain Meg Lanning used all her experience while defending the low score against a quality batting line-up of Mumbai, but in the end, Harmanpreet Kaur's team had the last laugh in a nail-biting contest.

Chasing 132 runs, the match became interesting as the required run rate touched 8 in the eighth over as the Delhi bowlers tightened the screws. Mumbai did not get off to a good start as they lost both their openers within four overs. Radha Yadav and Jess Jonassen gave Delhi a perfect start by dismissing Hayley Matthews and Yastika Bhatia.

Just when Mumbai looked like they were going to mess things up, captain Kaur and Nat Sciver-Brunt steadied the ship by putting together a sensible partnership of 72 runs. However, both sweated hard as Aussie captain Lanning used all her bowlers well and created huge pressure on the two world-class batters. Adding more spice to the game, Kaur was run out at a crunch moment in the 17th over, giving the Delhi fans a glimmer of hope.

Sciver-Brunt held her nerve even after losing her partner at the other end and played the innings patiently under immense pressure. The English all-rounder scored a brilliant half-century and led her team to the maiden WTL title.

Last wicket stand gave Delhi a lifeline

Earlier, Delhi had a poor start to their batting innings as they lost three wickets inside the powerplay. Skipper Lanning fought alone at one end but failed to score big after being unfortunately run out. Their top and middle-order crumbled, but a last-wicket partnership between Radha Yadav and Shikha Pandey produced 52 off 24 balls to give Delhi a score to fight back in the second innings.

After winning the player of the match award for her brilliant performance, Sciver-Brunt said:

"It was very special. Glad I was able to stick it out when the pressure was on. I was trying to get quite tough and Harman and Melie took the pressure off me. I knew if I stayed till the end we'd get through. We gave away too many in the final 3-4 overs, but it made the game interesting. It means everything, coming together with a special group of girls with the Mumbai, really special moment."

Here's how fans reacted to Mumbai's win: 

Harmanpreet Kaur Women's Indian T20 League Mumbai