UPW take on MI as playoff battle heatens

As the Delhi leg picks up pace, Mumbai Indians will quickly want to brush off the defeat in their previous game against Delhi Capitals and look forward to what’s up next. 

While the overall head-to-head record has both sides sharing the bragging rights with two wins apiece, the last time MI and UP Warriorz played, Kiran Navgire dished out a knock to remember as she scored her maiden WPL fifty to help UPW chase down 163 in just 16.3 overs. 

But UPW will be wary of facing a full-strength MI side, unlike the last time. And they themselves will be reeling from the loss against Royal Challengers Bangalore in what was the final game at the M. Chinnaswamy stadium. 

Will a new venue help UPW change their fortunes?

Things to watch out for

A lopsided UPW bowling attack

Ahead of the tournament, Jon Lewis - UPW head coach - seemed very confident of the bowling attack they had assembled at the auction. In fact, he’d spoken a fair bit about their spinners playing a big role in the upcoming season. 

Unfortunately, his spinners are yet to come good on these expectations. Sophie Ecclestone’s chart-busting numbers notwithstanding, none of the other spinners have delivered so far. UP’s spin attack took 28 balls to dismiss a batter in WPL 2024 - the poorest for any side.

Given the dependence on their spinners, this has had a direct impact on their overall bowling performance. Ahead of the season, one of the threats we’d spoken about was their lack of pace bowling reserves.

There’s been a general pattern in how teams have attacked the UPW bowlers. They have given Ecclestone and co. the respect they deserve by nudging them around for singles and the odd boundary off bad balls, and have gone berserk against pacers. 

UP Warriorz have tried to deal with this by providing the opposition with very few overs of pace, but the 16 overs that UPW pacers have bowled so far have cost them a whopping 179 runs.

Under favorable conditions, can they fire?

MI’s dependence on overseas players

In a clip put out by MI after the loss against Delhi Capitals, Amanjot Kaur, Pooja Vastrakar, and Saika Ishaque all received a special mention for their performances in the game. Add Sajana’s 14-ball 24 to that, and you wonder why the MI think-tank don’t seem to back their domestic talents better. 

Till now, MI’s overseas recruits have bowled 70% of the overs bowled by the side, the most for any overseas contingent. Given the quality on display, it’s no surprise that they have also taken the bulk of the wickets (81%). But the domestic options have been effective in limiting the run-flow, conceding runs at a miserly 6.9 RPO (overseas bowlers - 8.5 RPO). 

Further, WPL 2024 has also seen Amelia Kerr, Hayley Matthews, and Nat Sciver-Brunt face 49.5% of all deliveries played by Mumbai Indians. The trio scored 359 runs off these at an average of 25.6 and a strike rate of 126.4, while MI’s domestic batters have corresponding numbers of 26 and 130.1, respectively. 

With the tournament’s business end fast approaching, Mumbai will want to show more trust in their Indian players to put up a strong title defense.

UP Warriorz on the field

Alyssa Healy’s side have disappointed themselves on the field this time. They’ve dropped nine catches and have a catching efficiency of 60.9% in this WPL - worst on both counts. 

Their catching has cost them almost every game they’ve lost in this season. In their first game of the tournament, they gave two reprieves to S. Meghana and ended up losing the game by two runs. In their last game, they dropped Smriti Mandhana at 29, and she ended up making 80 runs by the time she got dismissed. 

Margin of loss? 23 runs.

This lack of support on the field played a big role in the UPW spinners' underwhelming season. Will they be able to regroup and put on a better display of their abilities, only time will tell. 

Ground details

The Arun Jaitley stadium in Delhi has historically favored spinners and the first game also hinted at that. Barring a rare off day for Amelia Kerr, none of the other spinners went over 8 RPO. This could potentially go in UPW’s favor. 

In all WT20s held at this venue, the average first innings score for the team batting first is 122, while the average winning score for the team batting first is 162. 

Interestingly, toss-winning captains have opted to bat first in three of the six WT20s at this venue before WPL 2024. Even in the DC - MI fixture, DC posted an above-par 192 in the first innings and ended up winning by 29 runs. 

Tactical insights

Hayley Matthews is yet to replicate some of her match-winning performances from the first season, and she will have her task cut out for her while facing Ecclestone. The world number 1 bowler has accounted for Matthews in five out of 14 innings, with the batter only managing an average of 9.5 and a strike rate of 63 against her. 

Grace Harris had a rare failure in the UPW yellow, and she will be expected to play a very big role if UPW want to play a second successive playoff. Expect MI to use Nat Sciver-Brunt against her given her numbers against the Aussie. In 10 innings, Grace averages eight against the wily English all-rounder and an uncharacteristically poor strike rate of 108. 

Harmanpreet Kaur had a brief stay at the crease against DC after missing two games in Bangalore. The Team India skipper has been dismissed four times in 10 innings by Chamari Athpaththu and has a sub-10 average against her. The surface will now be 

Playing XIs

UP Warriorz: Alyssa Healy (C & WK), Kiran Navgire, Chamari Athapaththu, Grace Harris, Shweta Sehrawat, Deepti Sharma, Poonam Khemnar, Sophie Ecclestone, Rajeshwari Gayakwad, Saima Thakor, Anjali Sarvani

Mumbai Indians: Hayley Matthews, Yastika Bhatia (WK), Nat Sciver-Brunt, Harmanpreet Kaur, Amelia Kerr, Pooja Vastrakar, Amanjot Kaur, S. Sajana, Humairaa Kazi, Saika Ishaque, Shabnim Ismail