WPL: Mumbai Indians have all the answers as final jinx fells Delhi again

The third season of Women’s Premier League (WPL) finished on Saturday almost on a predictable note. If Harmanpreet Kaur’s Mumbai Indians looked to have an answer for all situations, Delhi Capitals now have the dubious distinction of losing all the three finals.

The combination of wealth of talent and experience at their disposal makes the MI brigade look almost unbeatable – and no wonder it’s their players who dominated the race to Orange and Purple Caps, respectively. Nat Sciver-Brunt, the England allrounder of Mumbai, emerged the topscorer with a tally of 523 runs and was Player of the Tournament while two of their allrounders – Amelia Kerr and Hayley Matthews were joint highest wicket-takers with 18 scalps each.    

There seems to be a gulf of difference in the self belief of this MI crop, who rallied around an enterprising 66 by the India captain Harmanpreet, and the other four teams in the fray. Meg Lanning’s Delhi had topped the league table and created enough moments for themselves in the final, like reducing the rivals to 20 for two, but lost the plot in chasing down a target of 150. Losing half the side, including Jemimah Rodrigues back in the hut for 66, the odds were stacked against them and it was largely due to South African allrounder Marizanne Kapp’s counterattacking 40 off 26 balls that Delhi could carry on the fight till the end.

If Royal Challengers Bangalore showed they have the potential to push to be the big force with their first title last season, both Gujarat Giants and UP Warriorz seem to have a lot of catching up to do. ‘’It was fantastic that the girls showed the energy despite playing last four games in six days. We don’t depend on a single individual and the job certainly gets easier when you have three best allrounders in the team,’’ said MI head coach Charlotte Edwards.

Showering praise on Harmanpreet’s innings, Edwards – once the highest rungetter in women’s cricket – said: ‘’When she is at her best, Harman is the best in the world. She knew which bowler to attack and once they began the chase, we were happy to see the backs of Meg (Lanning) and Shafali (Varma) early.’’

Meanwhile, the Delhi camp were heartbroken as their jinx in the final simply refused to end even after three seasons. A tough cookie like Kapp was seen breaking down in tears and Sourav Ganguly, former India captain and Director of Cricket of the women’s team, cut a forlorn figure as their Head Coach Jonathan Batty said: ‘’We’ve had three great seasons finishing at the top of the table. We’ve played some exceptional cricket, but everyone is hurt right now. 99% of the time, you back yourself to chase 150 on that wicket, but full credit to Mumbai for the way they bowled and executed their plans.’’

Batty continued: ‘’It was such a tight game to lose by just eight runs, which is effectively two boundaries. We lost by two balls in the end. It could have gone either way. There’s always a winner and a loser and unfortunately, we ended up on the losing side for the third time.’’

It will be a new three-year cycle for the WPL 2026. Hopefully, it will be a more level playing field for all!