"The standout player of the WPL final has to go to Nat Sciver-Brunt" - Lisa Sthalekar
Former Australia women's captain Lisa Sthalekar has termed Mumbai Indians' (MI) Nat Sciver-Brunt as the standout player in the WPL 2023 final on Sunday (March 26) at the Brabourne Stadium in Mumbai.
Harmanpreet Kaur's side were crowned the inaugural champions of the WPL following their nail-biting seven-run win over Delhi Capitals (DC) in the final.
MI reduced the Capitals to 79/9 in 16 overs after Meg Lanning opted to bat first in the summit clash. A 52-run partnership between Shikha Pandey (27 off 17 balls) and Radha Yadav (27 off 12 balls) for the 10th wicket pushed the Capitals to a respectable 131/9.
Mumbai Indians lost both openers Yastika Bhatia and Hayley Matthews in the powerplay, but skipper Harmanpreet and Nat Sciver-Brunt maintained the tempo of the chase.
The England batter remained undefeated on 60 off 55 balls, which included seven boundaries. She was involved in two crucial partnerships - one with Harmanpreet (72) and the other with Amelia Kerr (39*). Together with them, she helped MI get past the finish line with three balls to spare.
While analyzing the WPL 2023 final on Cricbuzz, Lisa Sthalekar, who was the mentor of UP Warriorz in the tournament, said Nat Sciver-Brunt controlled the innings very well.
Sthalekar said:
"The standout player of the WPL final has to go to Nat Sciver-Brunt. Now you look at what she has been able to do in this match but even the Eliminator. 132 runs unbeaten and she is the reason why Mumbai has progressed through."
She added:
"She was able to control the innings really well. She knew that she could eat up a bit of time at the start and then she will always catch up. She was able to find partners around her to go with her."
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Meg Lanning was certainly leading the way with the bat - Lisa Sthalekar
Delhi Capitals captain Meg Lanning finished the WPL 2023 as the highest run-scorer with 345 runs in nine innings at a strike rate of 139.11.
She made 35 runs in 29 balls in the final but wickets tumbling from the other end forced her to take risks. However, she was run out while taking a single in the 12th over.
When asked to select the best batter in WPL 2023, Sthalekar, without giving any thought, named the Australian skipper.
She said:
"Best batter (was) Meg Lanning. There is something about her and I love the fact that she opened the batting for Delhi. She was able to control the innings so powerful. I think she was actually a wonderful partner for Shafali Verma."
She added:
"Maybe she (Lanning) just kept quiet and let Shafali do her thing but they were very dynamic at the top. Meg Lanning was the one that was certainly leading the way with the bat in hand."
Sthalekar termed England fast bowler Issy Wong as the best bowler in the tournament. The 20-year-old claimed 15 wickets from 10 matches, including 3/42 in the final, and registered the first hat-trick of WPL against UP Warriorz in the Eliminator.
"I am going to go for Issy Wong and simply because she picked up crucial wickets at crucial times," Sthalekar said.
West Indies captain Hayley Matthews was named Player of the Tournament for scoring 271 runs at a strike rate of 126.05 while picking up 16 wickets at an economy rate of 5.94.