Navi Mumbai, Jan 17 (NationPress) The defending champions, Mumbai Indians, won the toss and opted to bowl first against the unchanged UP Warriorz in the 10th match of the Women’s Premier League (WPL) at the DY Patil Stadium on Saturday.

While the Warriorz maintained their lineup from the previous match, the Mumbai Indians made two adjustments, with Hayley Matthews returning and Nalla Kranthi Reddy making her debut.

The UP Warriorz faced a rocky start, suffering three consecutive losses before bouncing back to secure a convincing seven-wicket win over the defending champions MI on Thursday. This victory was spearheaded by Harleen Deol, who scored a dynamic 64 off 39 balls, displaying both power and composure. Despite this encouraging win, the Warriorz remain at the bottom of the points table.

On the flip side, the Mumbai Indians, aiming to regain their momentum following a narrow defeat in their opening game, slipped to second place in the points standings after their recent loss to the Warriorz.

After winning the toss, MI captain Harmanpreet Kaur stated, "We’re going to bowl first today. As a team, we’ve decided to chase since it has been our strength, and we want to revert to that. Given the conditions today, we’ve brought Matthews back into the squad, while Ismail is resting. This decision is primarily due to the conditions and the fact that we are playing a day match. We believe Matthews will play a significant role on this pitch, hence the change."

“In addition, we have another alteration. Poonam is not playing today, and Kanchan will be making her debut. Conditions are crucial in this tournament, and we want to ensure all players get a fair chance. As we enter the main phase of the tournament, we hope everyone adapts to these conditions and performs their best," she added.

Warriorz captain Meg Lanning commented, "We would have bowled first too. That seems to be the common strategy. However, in day games at the start of the tournament, Gujarat batted effectively initially, so there’s definitely an opportunity to bat well. We are eager to face Mumbai again. I know they’ll be looking to bounce back, but we are prepared for that. We believe we can refine a few aspects as well, so we are excited to get out there and execute. We are going with the same team as last game."

Playing XIs

UP Warriorz Women: Kiran Navgire, Meg Lanning (c), Phoebe Litchfield, Harleen Deol, Shweta Sehrawat (w), Chloe Tryon, Deepti Sharma, Sophie Ecclestone, Asha Sobhana Joy, Shikha Pandey, Kranti Gaud.

Mumbai Indians Women: Hayley Matthews, Gunalan Kamalini (w), Amelia Kerr, Nat Sciver-Brunt, Harmanpreet Kaur (c), Amanjot Kaur, Nicola Carey, Sajeevan Sajana, Sanskriti Gupta, Nalla Kranthi Reddy, Triveni Vasistha.