Majestic Harmanpreet Kaur Powers Mumbai Indians To Record Second WPL Title, Delhi Capitals Third Time Unlucky

Skipper Harmanpreet Kaur's panache powered Mumbai Indians to their second Women's Premier League title as Delhi Capitals choked for the third time in succession losing by 8 runs in what turned out to be an exciting finale in Mumbai on Saturday. Harmanpreet saved her best for the big day as her scintillating 44-ball 66 was instrumental in taking MI to a fighting 149 for 7 despite underwhelming effort from the other batters. While it seemed that MI were at least 15 runs short of what was a par-score on a good batting track, Delhi Capitals batters put undue pressure on themselves to finish at 141 for 9 despite late surge from Marizanne Kapp and teenager Niki Prasad.

Once MI's most impactful player through the tournament, Nat Sciver-Brunt removed DC skipper Meg Lanning with an off-cutter and Shafali Verma, who has not shown any signs of improvement as far as his technique is concerned, was caught plumb in-front for shuffling to Shabnim Ismail, the chances for the visiting team were minimal.

Jemimah Rodrigues (30 off 21 balls) tried for a while and so did Marizanne Kapp (40 off 26 balls) but it didn't prove to be enough in the end.

Having batted like a champion, Harmanpreet's years of experience of being an international skipper of repute proved to be handy as she marshalled her resources admirably, rotating the bowlers, not allowing the batters to get settled.

Whether it was Sciver-Brunt (3/30), Shabnim Ismail (1/15), Amelia Kerr (2/25 in 4 overs) or Indian youngster Saika Ishaque (1/33 in 4 overs), MI got wickets just when DC seemed ready for a pushback.

Earlier, Delhi Capitals did well enough to restrict Mumbai Indians to a fighting 149 for 7.

Harmanpreet effortlessly shifted gears from the onset, starting with a short-arm