MI vs GUJ WPL: Mumbai Indians beat Gujarat Giants by nine runs, Fulmali's half-century goes in vain

MI vs GUJ WPL: Mumbai Indians (MI) defeated Gujarat Giants (GG) by nine runs in the 19th match of the Tata Women's Premier League (WPL) 2025 on the basis of excellent bowling by Hayley Matthews and Amelia Kerr. For Gujarat, Bharti Fulmali played a strong innings of 61 runs with the help of eight fours and four sixes in 25 balls, but she wasn't able to help her team win. Batting first, MI scored 179 runs for six wickets in 20 overs with the help of a half-century by captain Harmanpreet Kaur. In reply, Gujarat's team was all out for 170 runs in the stipulated overs. 

While chasing the target, Gujarat's batting was not good and they lost six wickets within 92 runs. After this, Fulmali batted aggressively and shared a 50-run partnership with Simran Sheikh for the seventh wicket. Fulmali completed her fifty in 22 balls during this period. However, Amelia Kerr took Fulmali's wicket and brought Mumbai back into the match. Apart from Fulmali, no other batsman could play a big innings due to which Gujarat had to face defeat.

Harleen Deol scored 24 runs for Gujarat, while Phoebe Litchfield scored 22, Simran Sheikh scored 18, Kashvi Gautam scored 10, Diandra Dottin scored 10 and Priya Mishra scored one run. For Mumbai, Mathews and Kerr took three wickets each. Shabnim Ismail took two wickets and Sanskriti Gupta got one wicket. 

The Mumbai-based team set a strong target of 180 runs for the Giants to win with the help of captain Harmanpreet Kaur's half-century. Harmanpreet scored 54 runs with the help of nine fours in 33 balls, due to which Mumbai scored 179 runs for six wickets in 20 overs. Apart from the 35-year-old, Natalie Sciver-Brunt scored 38, Hayley Matthews scored 27 and Amanjot Kaur scored 27 runs for MI. Tanuja Kanwar, Kashvi Gautam, Priya Mishra and Ashley Gardner got one wicket each from Gujarat's side. 

Captain Ashleigh Gardner of Gujarat won the toss and decided to bowl against the inaugural champions. Both teams didn't make any changes in the playing-11 for this match. Mumbai did not have a good start as opener Amelia Kerr was run out while batting first and was dismissed after scoring five runs with the help of one four in nine balls. After this, Healy, along with Brunt handled the innings well and did not let Gujarat get any other success till the power play ended.

However, Hayley was dismissed after scoring 27 runs. After this, there was a 50+ run partnership for the third wicket between Harmanpreet and Brunt which was broken by Gardner. Brunt was dismissed after scoring 38 runs with the help of six fours in 31 balls. For Mumbai, Yastika Bhatia contributed 13, while Sajeevan Sajna remained unbeaten after scoring 11 runs. 

Updated WPL Points Table

The Mumbai-based team has qualified for the knockouts. But its aim is to reach the finals directly by staying on top of the table. On the other hand, Gujarat also has eight points and it has also crossed the hurdle of the group stage. 

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