Kiran Navgire and Grace Harris took much of the limelight during UP Warriorz’ seven-wicket win over the Mumbai Indians but their captain Alyssa Healy wasn’t too far behind.
While Healy was instrumental in the chase, scoring 33 off 29 balls herself, the Australian wicketkeeper-batter caught the eyeballs with how she dealt with a pitch invader during the MI innings as well.
The incident happened just as Anjali Sarvani was getting ready to bowl the last ball of the MI innings. She had just got a wicket off the fifth ball and the new batter was ready to face up, but the umpire asked Sarvani to stop just as she was getting into her run up. That was because a man had run on to the field of play but Healy was having none of it. She could be seen tackling the invader to the ground before officials escorted him off the field. Australian media drew comparisons to how the late all-rounder Andrew Symonds and Australia women’s football icon Sam Kerr had also dealt with pitch invaders in a similar fashion.
MI, who are the defending champions, were restricted to a score of 161/6 which UPW chased down in 16.3 overs. Healy (33 runs from 29 balls) and Kiran Navgire (57 runs from 31 balls) opened for the Warriorz and made a solid 94-run partnership.
The Healy-Navgire duo gave the UP-based franchise a fiery start while chasing a target of 162 runs. Healy smashed 5 fours with a strike rate of 113.79. Meanwhile, Navgire slammed his fifty after playing just 25 balls. She smashed 6 fours and 4 sixes. However, the player’s knock had to come to an end after Amelia Kerr made the first breakthrough of the game after she dismissed Navgire in the 10th over.
Issy Wong scalped the second wicket of the inning after she dismissed Tahlia McGrath (1 run from 4 balls) in the 11th over. Wong’s spell helped Mumbai to make a comeback in the game after she removed skipper Healy in the 10th over. Even though the Mumbai-based franchise picked up two quick wickets but still failed to take control of the game.
After losing three wickets, Grace Harris (38* runs from 17 balls) and Deepti Sharma (27* runs from 20 balls) took charge of the batting lineup as they chased the target without any difficulty. Harris smashed 6 fours and 1 six with a strike rate of 223.53. Meanwhile, Deepti hit 4 fours.
