Harmanpreet, Sciver-Brunt help MI complete quick turnaround

After a stinging defeat in the WPL 2026 opener, Mumbai Indians bounced back with a comprehensive 50-run victory over Delhi Capitals to get on the board, at the DY Patil Stadium in Saturday's double-header. Skipper Harmanpreet Kaur (74* off 42) and her deputy Nat Sciver-Brunt (70 off 46) led the batting charge to post a competitive 195 for 4 on the board before a disciplined bowling effort saw the Capitals bundled out for just 145 in reply despite some late fireworks from Chinelle Henry.

Asked to bat first by Delhi's new captain Jemimah Rodrigues, Mumbai had to overcome early struggles yet again. Amelia Kerr bagged a golden duck, courtesy a one-handed diving stunner from Lizelle Lee behind the stumps. The stumper held onto another sharp catch to send G Kamilini packing and give fellow DC debutant Nandini Sharma her maiden WPL wicket. In the meantime, Sciver-Brunt did the bulk of the scoring in that 49-run stand, marching to a quick 20-ball 32 before she joined hands with the captain.

The senior-most pair added 66 runs for the fourth wicket, in 47 deliveries, to help Mumbai amp up the scoring. Harmanpreet was particularly aggressive on the pacers in her 42-ball top-scoring effort. Sciver-Brunt marched to a 32-ball half-century but it was Harmanpreet who broke a brief period of lull with a six and a four off Chinelle Henry to take MI past the 100-run mark by the end of the 13th over. Sciver-Brunt slammed three sixes off Minnu Mani in the following over but fell to Shree Charani soon after, leaving it to her skipper to provide the finishing touches.

Harmanpreet found company in Nicola Carey, who kept finding the boundaries at regular intervals in her 12-ball cameo worth 21 while the captain started dealing in sixes. She raised her 34-ball half-century with one off Minnu, and then went after Charani in the final over with four boundaries on the trot to help MI post a formidable total for the conditions.

Delhi's chase never took off with Shafali Verma struggling early. On WPL debut, Lee could chip in only run-a-ball 10. Like in the first game, Carey lent the opposiiton a double blow - getting rid of Verma and Laura Wolvaardt in the same over. Delhi lost their fourth wicket inside the PowerPlay - the first such instance - with skipper Rodrigues becoming a victim of Kamilini's one-handed stunner.

Henry stuck around but DC were behind the eight ball. She added 40 runs for the sixth wicket with Niki Prasad (12 off 18), and partnerships in 20s with Sneh Rana (11 off 11) and Minnu but the required run-rate soon got out of hand. Kerr came into the attack late, but helped end DC's resistance with key wickets of Niki and Minnu before scalping Henry that was the final nail in the coffin for new-look DC. Kerr was the pick of the bowlers with figures of 3 for 24 while Carey, though a tad expensive, also picked a three-fer to shoot down Delhi for 145 in the 19th over.

Brief scores: Mumbai Indians 195/4 in 20 overs (Harmanpreet Kaur 74*, Nat Sciver-Brunt 70; Nandini Sharma 2-26) beat Delhi Capitals 145 all out in 19 overs (Chinelle Henry 56; Amelia Kerr 3-24, Nicola Carey 3-37) by 50 runs