As soon as the umpire’s finger went up to signal Shafali Verma’s dismissal, a fired up Shabnim Ismail sped towards captain Harmanpreet Kaur at cover with a couple of punches thrown in the air. Ismail roared. Harmanpreet roared back louder. Once they were face to face, fists pumping, veins on their arms about to pop, they paused for a second and suddenly surged into each other’s arms just as the noise around them reached a crescendo.
Shafali’s wicket in the third over of Delhi Capitals’ modest chase, six balls after Meg Lanning’s, was pretty much half the battle won for Mumbai Indians, and the captain who hardly celebrates early strikes was wearing her heart on her sleeve. She had, after all, turned things around almost single-handedly when Mumbai batted. It wasn’t as much about the fact that she scored nearly half (66) of Mumbai’s total of 149, but more about the manner in which she counterattacked against one of the best bowling attacks of WPL to give them a total they could think of defending.
Boundaries were hard to come by – just one had been hit in 27 balls – no risks were being taken, the DC fielders were throwing themselves around and the bowlers had their tails up when Harmanpreet walked out at 14 for 2.
Luckily, she had the prolific Nat Sciver-Brunt at the other end and Annabel Sutherland gifted her a freebie outside off in her first over which Harmanpreet dispatched for four. No need to go over the top, why bother with unnecessary risk, just middle it off the back foot. The powerplay soon ended on 20 for 2, MI’s second-lowest., and it happened to be in a final.
Once Marizanne Kapp finished her four overs straight, Harmanpreet wanted to feast on the spinners, but Meg Lanning brought on two left-arm spinners with enough protection on the leg-side boundaries for the sweeps. Harmanpreet faced five deliveries across two overs from Jess Jonassen and Shree Charani without attempting any big shots, and the pent-up aggression was desperate for an outlet. Luckily for her, Lanning made another bowling change and as soon as Sutherland pitched one on middle, Harmanpreet flicked a nonchalant six behind square. Three balls later she was served a half-volley and Harmanpreet sent a thunderbolt through the covers for four. After facing just 18 balls, of which three she had smashed to the boundary, Harmanpreet had made it clear that the situation of the match was not going to dictate her strike rate. It was going to be the opposite.
When Jonassen returned in the 11th over, with the packed leg-side boundaries again, Harmanpreet cut the third ball, which had only a hint of width, for four. But the shot on the next ball was the real harbinger of all damage to come. A tiny step towards leg and she lofted the ball gloriously over the covers for four; with the six earlier and this lofted stroke it was evident now that Harmanpreet’s batting was ethereal compared to others, and she proved it by making it three fours in a row of Jonassen. MI had picked up 26 runs in two overs.
Lanning had plenty of bowling options and she brought Shikha Pandey back. Harmanpreet smoked her over the covers first ball to make it clear the Harmonster was coming after DC. Most other batters would have tried to consolidate with Sciver-Brunt from 14 for 2 in 4.3 overs to take the innings deep, but Harmanpreet was taking risk after audacious risk, and they were all paying off for her. There wasn’t that much batting to come for MI: Amelia Kerr had hardly scored this WPL and waiting after her were a few inexperienced Indian players.
By the time 12 overs were done, Harmanpreet had settled in and Lanning finally had to bring on an offspinner. First ball from Minnu Mani, Harmanpreet whipped it between deep square leg and deep midwicket. Later, she swatted to leg, rolling her wrists enough to send it crashing to the wide long-on boundary to being up a majestic half-century off just 33 balls.
MI head coach Charlotte Edwards said there were no specific conversations she had had with Harmanpreet apart from the usual stuff about “being aggressive” and “putting the pressure back on the bowlers.”
“Yeah, I think it’s helped that we’ve played three games here,” Edwards said about MI’s familiarity with the conditions at Brabourne Stadium. “We knew that we could catch up later on in the innings and it was always hard. The first six overs at this ground, we always felt there was something in the pitch, so I think she just read the conditions brilliantly. She knew which bowlers to be aggressive against and it was just such a great innings and really set us up.”
After that 13th over by Mani, Harmanpreet even fought a niggle in her left leg, but that did not deter her from unleashing more fireworks. She finally middled her trademark slog sweep for six against Jonassen and struck a classy inside-out drive in the 18th over but this one was pouched safely by Kapp. Harmanpreet’s head dropped and she headed back with the score on 118 for 6, still a distance from being competitive.
The same lower order made up of Indian players that had failed to step up in last year’s Eliminator against Royal Challengers Bengaluru after Harmanpreet’s dismissal, had a chance to redeem itself and they scored another 31 runs in the last three overs to nearly touch 150. The bowlers then pounced on the DC batters and as the wickets started to tumble, out came one passionate Harmanpreet celebration after another.
