Harmanpreet Kaur went past Shafali Verma to become the leading Indian run-getter in the history of the Women’s Premier League on Friday. Harmanpreet Kaur now has 871 runs, toppling Shafali Verma’s 865 runs to take the top spot. Harmanpreet Kaur has become one of the most influential figures in the tournament due to her leadership and batting prowess.
With 871 runs at a strike rate close to 143, the Mumbai Indians skipper Harmanpreet Kaur expertly blends composure with aggression, often rescuing her side from challenging situations and finishing games authoritatively.Defending champions Mumbai Indians (MI) bounced back within 24 hours of their 2026 WPL season opening loss to seal an emphatic 50-run victory over Delhi Capitals (DC) at the DY Patil Stadium in Navi Mumbai on Saturday.
Nat Sciver‑Brunt and captain Harmanpreet Kaur set the tone with authoritative knocks of 70 and 74 not out to guide MI to 195/4. DC’s chase faltered from the outset as their top order collapsed inside the powerplay.
Pitch Report and Toss
Pitch Report : It is beautiful. It is nice and calm. In terms of the weather, not too hot either, which is good for us Kiwis coming over here. In terms of the dimensions, it’s actually quite a decent hit down the ground – 66 metres. Really, really short behind me. But in terms of square of the wicket, there’s definitely one side hitting into the leg side, which is only 53 metres, which most batters will love. 61 to the offside. So maybe some things to think about for captains in terms of their selections and where they want to bowl.
If you look at the wicket, this is made of red soil and it is rolled really well. It is pretty hard, but there is a decent amount of grass covering, and that is to bind the wicket together. It will help the seamers initially with the new ball. There will be some movement off the wicket, but otherwise it’s an out-and-out.
You can expect a high-scoring game and it can also be chased down. In the World Cup also we’ve seen the dew here, and there will be dew because this is early in the year, in January. There will be a good amount of dew, and that is why I think it will influence the decision at the toss. The wicket is so good for the batters. Every shot is worth the money, as long as they’re playing through the line. A total of 200 is up there. ” reckons Charles Dagnall and Kate Cross.
Toss : DC Women skipper Jemimah Rodrigues won the toss and chose to bowl first with Laura Wolvaardt, Lizelle Lee, Chinelle Henry, Marizanne Kapp, Shafali, Sneh Rana, and Nandini makes her debut as well in the Playing XI. MI skipper Harmanpreet Kaur batting first made one change in the playing XI bringing in Triveni for Saika Ishaque.
Natalie Sciver Brunt’s 70 and Harmanpreet Kaur’s 74* powers MI to 195 for 4 in 20 overs
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.
For the second game in a row, MI’s openers failed: Kerr fell for a duck while G Kamalini struggled to 16 off 19. After a scratchy 4 off 15 on Friday night in the season opener, Kerr edged her first legal delivery – an outswinger from Chinelle Henry – behind, as Lizelle Lee completed a diving catch on her second attempt. Kamalini also handed a diving catch to Lee, soon after she smashed Nandani Sharma for consecutive fours down the ground, but the debutant’s riposte earned her a maiden WPL wicket with Kamalini’s thick outside edge.
The senior-most pair added 66 runs for the fourth wicket, in 47 deliveries, to help Mumbai amp up the scoring. Harmanpreet Kaur was particularly aggressive on the pacers in her 42-ball top-scoring effort.
Sciver-Brunt then led MI’s innings and looked in top form, smashing three fours in her first four balls to different corners of the ground. She collected another pair of consecutive fours, again going after Henry, and took MI to 43 for 1 in the powerplay. While Sciver-Brunt went about finding the boundaries against the spinners too for a 32-ball fifty, Harmanpreet Kaur took her time to reach 15 off 17 before taking off.
Sciver-Brunt marched to a 32-ball half-century but it was Harmanpreet Kaur 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.
The Harmanpreet Kaur act started when she dispatched Henry for six over long-on. She followed it with her trademark loft over the covers for four, to take MI past 100 at the end of the 13th over. Sciver-Brunt then outfoxed Minnu Mani with late adjustments for three fours in the next over, which went for 14, and even though the England batter was soon caught for 70 at cover, MI were set for a strong finish on 127 for 3 after 15.
Harmanpreet Kaur 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. Harmanpreet Kaur 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.
Harmanpreet Kaur was not going after the bowlers by herself, however. She found a hard-hitting partner in Carey, who reverse-pulled for one of her four fours during her 21 off 12. But it was Harmanpreet Kaur’s clean striking that left the new DC captain Jemimah Rodrigues sweating, as the experienced MI leader played with the field, especially in the last over off Shree Charani. She hit four back-to-back fours to help MI collect 53 runs in the last four overs.
Nicola Carey and Amelia Kerr’s 3-fer powers a 50 runs dominating win for MI Women over clueless DC Women batting
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.
With Meg Lanning – the WPL’s second-highest scorer – released before the auction, DC had big shoes to fill at the top of the order. It didn’t happen on Saturday, at least, as Lee fell for 10 on her WPL debut.
Lizelle Lee began DC’s chase by picking two early fours, but chipped to mid-on off Nat Sciver-Brunt for 10. Shafali Verma followed her to the pavilion after being castled through the gate by an inswinger from Nicola Carey, who later got some nip back in to rattle Laura Wolvaardt’s off-stump.
Shafali and Wolvaardt then saw their off stumps pegged back as Carey seamed the ball into them, in the space of three balls in the fifth over. When Rodrigues fell to a one-handed stunner from Kamalini behind the stumps off Shabnim Ismail, DC had lost four wickets in the powerplay for the first time in the WPL.
Jemimah Rodrigues first outing as DC skipper ended at just one when she went for a flashy cut off Shabnim, but was caught by keeper G Kamalini diving to complete a sharp one‑handed take, as MI’s disciplined new‑ball attack dismantled their top order even before the powerplay had ended.
DC’s troubles deepened when Marizanne Kapp played a lofted drive off a pitched‑up delivery from Nicola, but only managed to get an outside edge and was caught by short third fielder for ten. Niki Prasad and Chinelle Henry provided brief resistance by striking six boundaries between themselves, before a googly from Amelia Kerr castled the former while trying to go across the line.
DC still had hope with depth in their line-up, but when Kapp was also sent back by Carey, DC needed a stiff 150 runs from 78 balls. Chinelle Henry’s hitting from No. 7 was the only silver lining for DC. Her penchant for boundaries belied DC’s score as she went after the inexperienced Triveni Vasishta – on WPL debut – and even the experienced Kerr. While she collected boundaries, wickets fell at the other end, and the asking rate climbed from over 12 after the halfway mark to nearly 20 by the time four overs were left.
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.Henry brought up her second WPL fifty in eight innings with a big six over long-on, but once she fell for 56 with the score 133, DC lasted just 11 more balls for 12 runs, before going down in their season opener.
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.
Presentations and Road Ahead
Jemimah Rodrigues the losing DC Women skipper said : Yeah, I think today was one of those games. We were still pretty good with the ball and the target was definitely chaseable, but with the bat we didn’t manage to build partnerships. That’s something we’ll work on. I think today was just one of those days where the partnerships didn’t click.
It’s a slightly different team from before, so I don’t think we should be too harsh on ourselves or let one game define us as a team. We’ve got a really strong batting line-up and I know we’re going to bounce back. (if she enjoyed captaincy?) I did, honestly.
Captaincy is something I really love, and to be here at my home ground in front of my parents and start a new journey – I think that was really special. Yes, it was a tough start, but as long as you’re learning, you can never really fail.
(Quick turnaround with a game tomorrow) I think it is a good thing. It gives us less time to overthink and more time to put this game aside. Good teams do that. One game doesn’t define us, and if we can move on quickly and bounce back tomorrow, that’ll be great for us.
Harmanpreet Kaur the winning MI Women skipper and Player of the Match for her 74 runs said : Yeah, it was a great game for us. Really happy with the way we played today. Obviously, we were very disappointed yesterday – things didn’t go our way. But today we came in with an even stronger mindset so that we could execute our plans better.
Yesterday as well I got a bit of a start, but before coming out to bat today, I just spoke to myself. I told myself that I got a good start yesterday but unfortunately couldn’t continue. Today was a new day, a new innings, and I wanted to go in with the same mindset, no matter what happened before. (If she’s timing the ball as sweetly as ever) Yeah, I think I can say that.
I’m really enjoying my batting, and for that I give a lot of credit to my Indian team – and now this team as well. We have long batting line-ups, which gives me the freedom to go out and express myself. I’m not worried about batting deep or holding back, and that’s probably why I’m enjoying myself so much. I think in the last game it came down to bowling one good ball, and unfortunately we couldn’t do that.
But even then, we were still in the game. Today, we came in with a more positive mindset, knowing that if we didn’t play good cricket yesterday and were still in it, imagine how good we could be if we played well. It’s really about believing in yourself and believing at the right time.
(On which wicket did she enjoy) Honestly, every wicket. In T20 cricket, if you take all 10 wickets, you really can’t ask for more from your team. Every wicket was important, and I’m really happy with how strong we were on the field today.
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.
After a nail-biter slipped through their hands in the last over of the opening night of WPL 2026, defending champions Mumbai Indians bounced back with style and thrashed three-time table-toppers Delhi Capitals with bruising half-centuries from their experienced duo of Nat Sciver-Brunt and Harmanpreet Kaur, and a three-for from their fresh recruit Nicola Carey. Chasing an imposing 196, DC slipped to 33 for 4 in the sixth over and hardly ever looked like bouncing back, eventually falling short by 50 runs.
As is often the case for MI, the heavy lifting with the bat was done by Sciver-Brunt and Harmanpreet, especially in the absence of the injured allrounder Hayley Matthews.
After the boundary-laden half-century from Sciver-Brunt and some late sixes from Harmanpreet Kaur powered MI close to 200, Carey’s early seam movement knocked over the off stumps of Shafali Verma and Laura Wolvaardt, before also accounting for Marizanne Kapp. From 33 for 4, DC stuttered to 86 for 6 as Amelia Kerr also chipped in with an economical spell and three wickets that rolled over DC for 145.
MI seal their first win of the season in an emphatic manner, brushing aside DC by 50 runs with a performance that has left little room for debate. With the bat, Nat Sciver-Brunt and skipper Harmanpreet Kaur set the tone. The pair batted with authority and clarity, lifting MI to an imposing total of 195. Sciver-Brunt’s fluent 70 provided the foundation, while Harmanpreet Kaur took over towards the end, finishing unbeaten on 74 and ensuring MI stayed well ahead of the game by the halfway stage.
The chase never truly took off. Delhi Capitals stumbled right from the start as their top order was dismantled inside the powerplay itself. Nicola Carey struck at the heart of the innings with her three-wicket burst, reducing DC to 46 for 5 by the seventh over, a climb too steep.
From there, the task of chasing 195 became increasingly uphill. MI’s bowlers showed no mercy, striking at regular intervals and refusing to let Delhi settle. Henry notched up a fighting fifty, but the two-time WPL champions wrapped up a clinical and all-round performance to open their account in the season in convincing style.
RCB pulled off a memorable win last night, inspired by a match-winning effort from Nadine de Klerk. Today, the spotlight shifted to Mumbai Indians, whose bowlers delivered a far more disciplined performance. Strikes inside the powerplay put DC on the back foot early and while Henry provided a brief spark with a spirited performance, MI were in control for most of the contest. The pressure stayed on, and the gap only widened as the innings went on.
Also Read:Â ENG vs IND : Shubman Gill Appointed Test Skipper For Red Ball