It was nice to hear the Bangalore crowd quiet: Amelia Kerr

Just like Australia’s World Cup-winning captain Pat Cummins, Amelia Kerr also seems to be a fan of “silencing the home crowd” and that’s exactly what she and her team Mumbai Indians did in Match 9 of the 2024 Women’s Premier League. Facing Royal Challengers Bangalore at the M.Chinnaswamy Stadium, Mumbai emerged victorious by seven wickets and climbed to the top of the WPL 2024 points table.

“Turning up here is very loud. Not being the home team, it obviously was very loud and they were cheering for RCB. When we got that partnership and got off to a flier, it was nice to hear them quiet. It is great to play in that atmosphere because it is not something we get to experience and it is what we love about coming to India,” said the legspin-bowling allrounder from New Zealand.

Having lost their previous game against UP Warriorz in the absence of their regular skipper Harmanpreet Kaur and ace pacer Shabnim Ismail, Mumbai made a superb comeback against RCB. Those two senior players were still not available but the others stepped up and got Mumbai an easy win. Chasing a target of 132, MI got the job done in just 15.1 overs, with the top-four batters scoring 25-plus runs.

“Nobody goes out to play sport to lose. In this tournament with so many games, you are going to lose a game at some point. It is about taking learnings from it, and I think we did it really well to turn it around and put a complete performance. We reviewed that game and spoke about being more aggressive with bat and ball,” said Kerr, who herself slammed an unbeaten 40 off 24 balls.

“Also our fielding, going for catches. It showed today. It was probably our best fielding performance. The message is that we don’t care if we make mistakes when we are 100% committed. I think that attitude was turned around, going for everything, diving for everything. You want that energy and commitment, which is what we brought today. That’s what good teams do, they can turn around losses and learn quickly, which we saw today.”

Talking about Nat Sciver-Brunt’s captaincy, Kerr said: “Nat’s been amazing. Obviously, Harman (Kaur) has been a wonderful leader for Mumbai, and for Nat to step up the way she has, has been amazing. She has captained England before and she has got a great way about it. She is very level-headed and calm. She has a great cricket brain. I thought tonight was exceptional as well. We are looking forward to having Harman back, she is key for Mumbai. That’s the thing with this team, everything is just so seamless.”