Follow UsThe playoffs of the third edition of the Women's Premier League (WPL) are set to take place at the iconic Brabourne Stadium in Mumbai. Mumbai Indians and Gujarat Giants will face off in the eliminator on Thursday, March 13th, and the winner will face the table-toppers Delhi Capitals in the Final on Saturday, March 15th.
Brabourne Stadium has a nice history of hosting women's cricket. The venue hosted 11 games, including the final, in the first edition of the WPL in 2023.
The toss has not been a major factor like the other venues in Bengaluru and Vadodara, where teams chasing won more than 80% of the games. In the 13 WPL games played at this venue so far, the toss has been almost 50:50, with six instances of teams winning batting first and seven instances while chasing. The average first-innings winning score of 185 tells us that teams must score big in order to win games at this venue.
Spinners have dominated at the Brabourne Stadium, taking nearly 70% of the wickets and striking at 17.9, almost half the pacers' strike rate of 29.7. The bowling average of 24.5 shows how tight the spinners are when it comes to conceding runs at this venue.
Looking into the three phases, the pacers have been terrible, with the new ball averaging 58.1 and striking at 43 compared to spinners, who have managed to dismiss the batters by averaging just 23.2 and striking at an excellent rate of 16.8.
The middle overs phase is even-steven as both pace and spin operate at the same rate. Spinners once again have overpowered pacers in the slog overs (16-20), striking at a terrific rate of 9.9 and averaging 14.7, showing how going spin-heavy might be a winning formula.
Among the three teams in the playoffs, it's the home team, Mumbai Indians, who have a terrific record at this venue, winning five of their six games and lifting the trophy as inaugural champions in 2023 at this venue. Gujarat Giants' only two wins in the 2023 season came at this venue.
Meanwhile, the finalists, Delhi Capitals, have only a 50% record, losing two games of the four, with one being the final of the WPL 2023 against MI.
Nat Sciver-Brunt has been the best batter at this venue, scoring 303 runs at a terrific SR of 143. She has three 50s and has gotten out only thrice in six innings at this venue, averaging 101. MI skipper Harmanpreet Kaur, too, has been spectacular at this venue, scoring 215 runs at an excellent SR of 141, maintaining a good average of 53.8 with three fifties.
MI's spin duo of Hayley Matthews and Amelia Kerr are the best bowlers at this venue, with 15 and 12 wickets each at an excellent bowling SR of 9.6 and 11.3, respectively. Kerr has been a tad expensive at 7.9 compared to Matthews, who has been economical at 6.6.
