GG vs MI Highlights, WPL 2023: 3 moments that generated a buzz among fans in Match 1
Mumbai Indians (MI) have gotten off to a cracking start in the inaugural edition of the Women's Premier League (WPL). They crushed the Gujarat Giants (GG) in their opening game at the DY Patil Stadium on Saturday.
Captain Harmanpreet Kaur led by example with a quickfire 65 and some handy contributions from other batters like Hayley Matthews and Amelia Kerr ensured that MI got to a mammoth total of 207/5 in their 20 overs.
The Giants got no momentum whatsoever in their innings as they were bundled out for just 64. Moreover, their captain Beth Mooney also got injured, putting further dents to the start of their WPL 2023 campaign.
On that note, let's take a look at three moments that grabbed eyeballs on social media:
#3 Harmanpreet Kaur's 7 consecutive boundaries
Harmanpreet Kaur smashed 7 fours in a row against Gujarat Giants 🤩
#GGvMI #WPL2023 #CricketTwitter https://t.co/n4RbXUQBUl
Harmanpreet Kaur's sensational knock of 65 gave WPL 2023 the start it needed as she lit up the stadium with her exquisite strokeplay. She smashed 14 boundaries in her innings and the Giants were just shell-shocked by the counter-attack from the Mumbai Indians skipper.
Almost no GG bowler was spared as both Harmanpreet and Amelia Kerr kept on scoring boundaries almost at will. Harmanpreet smashed seven boundaries in a row, out of which four came off Monica Patel's bowling and the remaining three came in Ashleigh Gardner's over.
The expressions on the faces of the bowlers and fielders were enough to suggest how helpless they felt as Harmanpreet continued to unleash some incredible shots.
#2 Saika Ishaque's incredible spell
Saika Ishaque and Amelia Kerr have been unplayable tonight 🫡
Yeh raha proof 👇😉
#OneFamily #MumbaIndians #WPL2023 #GGvMI
https://t.co/g19J2cK1c8
WPL 2023 is expected to unearth some gems from domestic cricket and India might have found one in left-arm spinner Saika Ishaque. They had a quality wrist spinner in Amelia Kerr, but she provided assistance from the other end as Ishaque ran riot.
In 3.1 overs, Ishaque conceded just 11 runs and picked up as many as four wickets. Her subtle variations were too good for the GG batters as they fell like a pack of cards and just couldn't show any kind of fight. Harmanpreet Kaur had spoken highly of the spinner at the toss and it seems like she was absolutely right.
#1 Harmanpreet Kaur reviewing a wide decision
🏻
Umpire calls it a wide
MI challenge the decision
Decision changed
The new rule of challenging the umpire decision for wide and no ball is just so good 👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻 https://t.co/Iii209XdhT
There have been quite a few controversial wide and no-ball calls in the game over the past few years. Many felt that the technology available had to be used to avoid any kind of error from the on-field umpires.
According to the WPL rules, the captains are allowed to challenge a wide and an above-waist-height no-ball call if they feel it is wrongly given by the third umpire. Harmanpreet Kaur used this rule for the first time in the second innings of the game and that proved to be right as the batter Monica Patel had gloved the ball.
Fans were quite delighted to see the use of technology allowed for such marginal calls as sometimes they could go a long way in defining games.