What worked for Mumbai Indians
Mumbai Indians lost only two matches on their way to the WPL title in the inaugural season. A look at factors that helped them triumph
HARMANPREET PROVES A POINT
Harmanpreet Kaur went into the tournament with a point to prove. Contrary to expectations, she wasn't one of the most expensive picks in the auction, with MI acquiring her services for ~1.8 crore. Handed the Mumbai Indians captaincy, Harmanpreet stepped up as both batter and leader. She finished as the fourth highest run-getter of the tournament with 281 runs in 10 matches at an average of 40.14 and strike rate of 135.09
SAIKA ISHAQUE: A SURPRISE PACKAGE
Saika Ishaque hasn't yet played for India, but a national call-up doesn't seem far away. She was one of the surprise packages of the tournament. The left-arm spinner claimed 15 wickets in 10 matches to finish joint-second on the list of highest wicket-takers in the tournament
THE RIGHT OVERSEAS PICKS
With players like Nat Sciver-Brunt, Hayley Matthews, Issy Wong and Amelia Kerr in the mix, Mumbai possessed the strongest overseas core in the tournament. And all of them came to the fore in emphatic fashion. While Sciver-Brunt was among the top run-getters, Wong and Kerr were in the top five wicket-takers. The star performer with both bat and ball was West Indian Hayley Matthews, deservedly earning the Player-of-the-Tournament award
FIELDING
The value of fielding is underlined time and again in the shortest format. We saw it in the WPL too, with Mumbai Indians being far superior to other teams in this department. They took the most catches (37) this season, five more than Delhi Capitals (32). Yastika Bhatia was also safe behind the stumps, effecting the most dismissals with six catches and seven stumpings