Women's Cricket
Mumbai Indians making most of the varied bowling attack in WPL: Issy Wong
Mumbai Indians all-rounder Issy Wong believes that the franchise is making optimum use of its varied bowling attack.
Issy Wong was crucial against Delhi Capitals for Mumbai Indians. (Source: WPL/Twitter)
With three wins in as many games in the Women's Premier League (WPL), Mumbai Indians have stamped their authority on the inaugural edition like no other.
At the center of their impressive performance has been their Caribbean all-rounder Hayley Matthews, who has been a vital cog in the Mumbai Indians' wheel.
Hayley began with a sparkling 47 against Gujarat Giants and followed it up with three wickets and a brilliant unbeaten 77 in the win against RCB. On Thursday, the West Indian had superb figures of 3/19 and a quick-fire 32, which helped Mumbai Indians thrash Delhi Capital by eight wickets with five overs to spare.
Mumbai Indians pace bowler Issy Wong, who also took three wickets on Thursday, indicated the variety in the bowling attack had made the team quite a force to reckon with. "We have got a very diverse bowling attack. We have got left-arm spinners, off-spinners, and leg spinners. We have a variety of seam bowlers with different change-ups," said Wong.
"We cover all the bases. It allows us to be really flexible. Harman (Kaur) has been fantastic, just pulling strings here and there. Especially Hayley, Harman brought her on at just the right time in the game against RCB and the diversity of our attack allows us to do that," she added.
Wong added Mumbai Indians couldn't have hoped for a better start to the WPL. "(Winning) three out of three is a great start. It can't get better than that. We have worked really hard in training. We have made the most out of our squad and there have been some great performances from all the girls," she said.
Delhi Capitals head coach Jonathan Batty said that losing seven wickets for a little over 20 runs was why they lost the match. "Full credit to the Mumbai Indians who bowled really well with the new ball. They restricted us in the powerplay," he said.
"We were recovering well at 80 for three after 12 overs but then we lost seven wickets for 24 runs and only batted out 18 overs. Losing out in two overs at the back end and (it) hurts you. It was not quite a good wicket as we have been playing on, so maybe 150-160 might have been a realistic target," he said.
