Bharti Fulmali gave Mumbai Indians a real scare before the Harmanpreet Kaur-led side beat Gujarat Giants by nine runs in their Women’s Premier League (WPL) match at the Brabourne Stadium on Monday.
In pursuit of Mumbai’s challenging 180 for victory, Gujarat Giants had lost their way at one stage struggling at 92/5 before Bharti’s blitzkrieg took them close.
The No 7 batter struck eight fours and four sixes in her knock of 61 with a strike rate of 244 before losing her wicket to Amelia Kerr.
Kerr (3/34) and Hayley Mathews (3/38) were among the pick of the wickets for MI.
With the victory, Mumbai Indians have kept alive their hopes of directly qualifying for the final of the WPL as they now have 10 points from seven games with one match to play against RCB on Tuesday. They are in the second spot with Delhi Capitals also on 10 points with a Net Run Rate (NRR) of 0.396.
Earlier, chasing an outright place in the WPL final, Mumbai Indians took a giant stride as skipper Harmanpreet Kaur's timely half-century ensured they posted a challenging 179/6 in 20 overs.
Kaur's 54 off 33 balls was the highlight for the Mumbai Indians as the captain got their innings together when by Ashleigh Gardner's superb direct-hit. it looked they might just lose their way with the loss of Nat Sciver Brunt (38).
The experienced Kaur staying in the middle until the last over of the innings proved to be Mumbai's biggest strength as she slammed nine fours en route her knock of 54.
Sciver-Brunt was also fluent as she smashed 38 runs off 31 balls with six fours that provided the initial impetus after the early departure of Amelia Kerr to a brilliant run-out enforced opener Hayley Mathews made a quickfire kock of 27 off 22 balls with three fours and two sixes that clearly indicated her inclination to go big throwing caution to the window.
The atmosphere at the Brabourne Stadium was electrifying with a good, strong attendance even on a Monday evening with chart busting music blaring from the surround systems at the venue. posted a very healthy 179/6.
At the time of going to press, the Gujarat Giants were struggling and hurtling towards defeat and had reached 92/5 in 13 overs.
Mumbai Indians will move to 10 points from seven matches if they win the game against GG. After Kaur's innings that solidified Mumbai Indians and provided direction to their innings, the late flour ish was provided by the likes of Amanjot Kaur, Sajeevan Sajana and Yastika Bhatia.
Amanjot's innings of 27 was the X-factor for Mumbai Indians in the back-end as she got the runs from just 15 balls comprising three fours and a maximum.
Finally, Yastika blasted a four and a six for 13 off just four balls faced as Harmanpreet Kaur-led side They will play Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) on Tuesday at the Brabourne to complete their league engagements and give them selves an opportunity to top the table and enter the final.
