In a display of sheer dominance, Mumbai Indians’ captain, Harmanpreet Kaur, showcased her batting prowess with an unbeaten knock of 95 runs, guiding her team to a magnificent seven-wicket victory over the Gujarat Giants in a Women’s Premier League (WPL) encounter. Harmanpreet’s blistering innings, in just 48 deliveries, included a staggering 10 fours and five towering sixes.

Alongside opener Yastika Bhatia, who contributed a vital 49 runs off 36 balls, Harmanpreet played a pivotal role in successfully chasing down Gujarat’s imposing total of 190/7.

In fact, such was the extent of Harmanpreet’s power-hitting in the clash against Giants that even the match referee had to inspect her bat, or so the MI captain seemingly revealed in the post-match interaction!

Harmanpreet revealed that he had batted with her practice bat due to better grip on it, but match referee checked her bat after a destructive knock against the Giants.

“When we were practicing, I was using this bat (the one she played with), my match bat was different. But my grip was a bit loose with the latter. Then, I thought I should use my practice bat only,” Harmanpreet said.

When a fellow anchor hilariously says that she will take Harmanpreet’s bat for herself, the MI captain reveals the match referee actually had a look at her bat.

“Arey vo referee mere peeche pade hain, bat check kar rahe hain, jaise pata nahi kya daala hai bat me! (The match referee is checking my bat, as if I’ve put something in it!” Harmanpreet said as she laughed.

Despite a solid start provided by Bhatia and her opening partner Hayley Matthews, Mumbai Indians found themselves in a spot of bother after losing key wickets of Nat Sciver and Katherine Brunt, before reaching the 100-run mark within 13.3 overs.

Entering the final five-over phase, Mumbai faced a daunting task of scoring 72 runs off just 30 balls, requiring a run rate of over 14 runs per over to secure victory.

Harmanpreet Kaur, then, launched an onslaught on the Giants bowlers. Turning on the ‘beast mode’ after being dropped on 40, Harmanpreet embarked on a boundary-hitting spree, forming a formidable partnership with Amelia Kerr, adding a staggering 93 runs for the fourth wicket in a mere 38 balls.

Her assault on off-spinner Sneh Rana in the 18th over, where she plundered 24 runs, significantly eased the equation for Mumbai. With Harmanpreet leading from the front, Mumbai Indians propelled to the top of the league table with 10 points.