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Fiery bowling spells from Amelia Kerr and Shabnim Ismail helped Mumbai Indians restrict Gujarat Giants to just 126/9 in the third Women's Premier League (WPL) match held in Bengaluru on Sunday.
MI needs to chase down 127 runs to secure their second win of the tournament. Put to bat first by Mumbai Indians, Gujarat Giants had a shaky start. Pacer Shabnim Ismail trapped Veda Krishnamurthy leg-before-wicket for a duck in the first over. GG was 3/1 in 0.4 overs. Harleen Deol was next up to bat and hit Nat-Sciver Brunt for a gigantic six on her third ball, but Ismail also trapped her lbw for just eight runs in nine deliveries, sinking GG to 13/2 in 2.4 overs. Skipper Beth Mooney was joined by young Australian star Phoebe Litchfield. They both attacked Hayley Matthews' spin in the fourth over, smashing her for three fours. Just when it seemed that GG was building towards something big, Nat-Sciver removed Litchfield for just seven runs. Sathyamoorthy Keerthana took an easy catch. GG was 37/3 in 5.2 overs. At the end of the powerplay in six overs, GG was 43/3. Mooney and Dayalan Hemalatha took GG to the 50-run mark in 7 overs. Soon, Hemalatha became Matthews' first victim, caught by Amelia Kerr for just three at long-on. GG was 52/4 in 7.3 overs. Ismail got the prized scalp of skipper Mooney for 24 in 22 balls, consisting of two fours. She was caught by wicketkeeper Yastika Bhatia. GG sunk to 58/5 in 10.1 overs. After some fine display with her fielding, it was Amelia's turn to shine with the ball, removing a dangerous Ashleigh Gardner for 15 in 22 balls and cleaning up vice-captain Sneh Rana's stumps for a duck in the same over. GG sunk to 78/7 in 13.4 overs. Tanuja Kanwar and Kathryn Bryce started to rebuild the innings, putting up a fine fight against mighty MI bowlers. The duo powered GG to the 100-run mark in 17.2 overs, with a four by Kanwar. Kerr broke the partnership of 48 runs between the duo, cleaning up Kanwar for 28 in 21 balls with four boundaries after she was stumped by Yastika. On the final ball of the innings, she also removed Lee Tahuhu for zero. GG ended their innings at 126/9 in 20 overs. Amelia (4/17) was the pick of the bowlers for MI. Ismail also took 3/18 in her four overs. Nat-Sciver and Hayley also took a wicket each. (ANI)
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