Where it was Brendon McCullum with his 158* in the first-ever men’s IPL game back in 2008, today, on March 4th 2023, it was Harmanpreet Kaur who gave the perfect start to the inaugural season of the Women’s Premier League (WPL).
Mumbai Indians captain Kaur was in her true element on the opening night of the WPL 2023 as she hammered 65 runs off just 30 balls against Gujarat Giants, helping her side to a massive total of 207/5.
After being asked to bat first on the flat deck of the DY Patil Stadium, MI lost opener Yastika Bhatia in the 3rd over but then began a stunning onslaught from the MI batters that didn’t relent until the last ball of the innings, which was smoked for a six by England’s Issy Wong on her first ball in the tournament.
Harmanpreet Kaur lit up the WPL season opener
Hayley Matthews smashed 47 (31), Nat Sciver-Brunt scored 23 (18), and Amelia Kerr walloped 45 (24) before Pooja Vastrakar (15 off 8) and Issy Wong (6 off 1) gave the finishing touches.
But it was Kaur, or as her fans like to call her, Harmanpreet Thor, who wielded her bat like Thor’s Mjölnir, the hammer of the thunder god, and send the jam-packed crowd in the DY Patil Stadium into a frenzy as she tonked 14 boundaries in her innings. Not one shot in anger or disdain, but all sweetly timed and smartly placed.
She also took down leg-spinner Georgia Wareham, who recently became the T20 World Cup winner with Australia, and creamed her for two consecutive boundaries in the 12th over, and in the 15th over Harmanpreet hit Monica Patel for 4 boundaries in a row.
The BCCI uploaded the video of this on their WPL website of Harmanpreet Kaur’s superb fours:
Captain @ImHarmanpreet led from the front with a stellar 65 off 30 deliveries as she becomes our Top Performer from the first innings! 👏🏻
Take a look at her batting summary ✅#TATAWPL | #GGvMI pic.twitter.com/VmBk7D2ytJ
— Women's Premier League (WPL) (@wplt20) March 4, 2023
𝑾𝒉𝒐 𝒆𝒍𝒔𝒆? @ImHarmanpreet brings up the first 5️⃣0️⃣ of #TATAWPL 👏🏼
More of her in action in #GGvMI 👉🏼 LIVE on #JioCinema & #Sports18 📺📲#CheerTheW #TATAWPLonJioCinema #TATAWPLonSports18 pic.twitter.com/16SxnLpZup
— JioCinema (@JioCinema) March 4, 2023
Teams:
Mumbai Indians Women (Playing XI): Hayley Matthews, Yastika Bhatia(w), Harmanpreet Kaur(c), Nat Sciver-Brunt, Amelia Kerr, Amanjot Kaur, Pooja Vastrakar, Humaira Kazi, Issy Wong, Jintimani Kalita, Saika Ishaque
Gujarat Giants (Playing XI): Beth Mooney(w/c), Sabbhineni Meghana, Harleen Deol, Ashleigh Gardner, Annabel Sutherland, Dayalan Hemalatha, Georgia Wareham, Sneh Rana, Tanuja Kanwar, Monica Patel, Mansi Joshi
