Harleen Deol recovered from the disappointment of being retired out with a game-winning half-century 24 hours later as UP Warriorz defeated defending champions Mumbai Indians by 7 wickets for their first WPL 2026 victory in Navi Mumbai on Thursday.
After a very mediocre first half of the innings, Nat-Sciver Brunt (65 off 43 balls) batted with the physical force she is known for to raise the Mumbai Indians to 161 for five.
Harleen (64 not out off 39), who was retired out on Wednesday despite batting well, proved a point by perfectly anchoring UPW’s run chase.
While the Mumbai Indians lost their second game in four, UPW had their first victory of the season in four games.
Harleen batted with a fresh sense of purpose and a strong desire to score boundaries whenever possible, including three off the skilled Shabnim Ismail in one over.
Harleen’s strokeplay square of the wicket on the off-side and her effortless run-scoring style were what stood out in her knock. With a sweep off spinner Sanskriti Gupta in the fifteenth over, the Indian batter reached her fifty. The equation was reduced to 29 off 24 balls with seven wickets remaining after two more fours in the same over.
Deol waited till the very end with Chloe Tryon (27 not out of 11) to make sure everything went smoothly. However, the troubles for UP Warriorz at the top of the order persisted with Meg Lanning (25 off 26) and Kiran Navgire (10 off 12) unable to provide a lightening start.
Earlier, on a slow surface that helped the spinners, the opening duo of Amanjot Kaur (38 off 33) and G Kamalimi (5 off 12) could never really get going. After the openers left in consecutive overs, Sciver-Brunt and captain Harmanpreet Kaur (16 off 11) came together.
Sciver-Brunt struggled to 54/2 in 10 overs, but her outstanding hitting altered the trajectory of the innings. With up to 107 runs arriving in the final ten overs, the Mumbai Indians were able to put up a competitive total thanks to her unique knock.
Nicola Carey gave Sciver-Brunt the perfect support when Harmanpreet was hit by a sweep ball from Asha Shobhana. Sciver-Brunt continued to amass boundaries for amusement. Sciver-Brunt hit two fours and a straight six in Shobhana’s 17-run over, which provided the innings much-needed momentum.
