Left-arm spinner Tanuja Kanwar has etched herself in the history books by becoming the bowler to take the first-ever wicket in the Women’s Premier League (WPL).
The Gujarat Giants and the Mumbai Indians met for the WPL 2023 season opener match on Saturday, March 4 2023, at the DY Patil Stadium, Mumbai. GG were captained by Australia keeper-opener Beth Mooney and MI by India captain Harmanpreet Kaur. Mooney won the toss and elected to field first.
Hayley Matthews cracked the first six and first four of the WPL history, in the second over to Mansi Joshi.
But, in the 3rd over, left-arm spinner Tanuja Kanwar was brought on by skipper Mooney and the 25-year-old spinner from Himachal Pradesh delivered instantly as she dismissed MI opener Yastika Bhatia.
Kanwar tossed the ball up and kept it full. Bhatia, under the pressure of the dot balls she’d soaked up, aimed to hit it over the off-side fielders which were in the circle. However, she couldn’t connect with her shot and ended up slicing to cover-point where Wareham moved across to her left a couple of steps and took a simple catch.
Tanuja Kanwar was all elated and jumpingly celebrated the wicket – the first-ever wickets in WPL history.
Watch the video of the first-ever wicket in WPL history by Tanuja Kanwar:
ICYMI!
Tanuja Kanwar scalps the first wicket in the history of #TATAWPL 👏👏#MI move to 22-1 after 4 overs. #GGvMI pic.twitter.com/uNz3qjWy85
— Women's Premier League (WPL) (@wplt20) March 4, 2023
After this first wicket, however, GG bowlers were smoked to all parts of the ground by the MI batters as MI piled up 207/5 in their 20 overs.
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 Harmanpreet 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 of 65 runs in 30 balls.
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
