Mumbai Indians Women (MUM-W) vs. Delhi Capitals Women (DC-W) in the Women’s Premier League (WPL 2025) final marked the conclusion of the thrilling women’s T20 cricket festival. The exciting match took place in Mumbai’s Brabourne Stadium, which is noteworthy.
After winning the toss, Meg Lanning, the visiting captain, asked the home team to bat first. Mumbai did not start the game well, but they bounced back in the last moments and set Delhi a target of 150 runs. The gutsy 66-run performance from MUM-W captain Harmanpreet Kaur helped her team escape early difficulties, and she stitched an important 89-run partnership with Natalie Sciver-Brunt for the third wicket. To assist her skipper, Natalie made a crucial 30-run cameo. Mumbai Indians Women ended up scoring 149/7 on the board as a result.
Talking Points
1. Did Lanning fail to bat long enough to keep her team in hunt?
In reply to the run chase, skipper Meg Lanning started strong as she was looking to set the tempo for the rest of the Delhi Capitals Women’s batting unit. However, before she could convert her start into a big knock, all-rounder Natalie Sciver-Brunt dismissed her in the second over of the run chase. In the following over, pacer Shabnim Ismail trapped opener Shafali Varma in front, to boost Mumbai’s chances further.
2. Mumbai spinners kept adding pressure to keep things in control
The top four batters of DC-W were back in the hut by the midway of their innings as spinner Saika Ishaque and Amelia Kerr further squeezed their batters by not allowing them to score freely. Though the middle order batter Jemimah Rodrigues tried holding the fort from one end by counter-attacking Kerr, she eventually gave her wicket away in a bid to up the scoring run rate. At that stage, DC-W were staring down the barrel with the score reading 67/5.
3. Marizanne Kapp’s and Niki Prasad’s resistance in vain
Star all-rounder Marizanne Kapp, after bowling decently, tried to take the game deep and kept fighting before she perished after scoring 35 runs. Ismail’s disciplined bowling led Kapp to take her chances in the 18th which was bowled by Sciver-Brunt. Youngster Niki Prasad’s resistance too went in vain as Delhi Capitals lost their third final of the Women’s Premier League by a close margin of eight runs to lift the WPL title for a record second time.
Meanwhile, here’s what the captains and the Player of the Match (POTM) said about how the final panned out on Saturday.
Who Said What?
Meg Lanning, Delhi Capitals Women and losing skipper said
We have had another good season but unfortunately could not get over the line. Full credit to Mumbai – they have been excellent throughout and thoroughly deserved their win. We could not get it together with the bat, 150 was a good target for us. Another partnership for a couple of overs might have given us a chance. We are all pretty disappointed.
(On having a long break before the final) I don’t think there is any right or wrong way to do it and about performing on the night, and they were too good for us tonight. We have not been able to put our best performances on the board in the final, which is disappointing but that is cricket. We prepped to do as well as we could. It has been different each time. We put ourselves in a good position but you win some, you lose some.
Harmanpreet Kaur, Mumbai Indians Women, winning skipper & POTM said
It was a great team effort. I would like to congratulate Delhi team, it was not easy for us. At the end of the day, you feel happy, really happy with the way we played. We fought till the last ball, all about being there and doing the right things again and again. (On her batting approach) It was not easy when I went in. But I had that belief that if I stayed there and kept rotating strike, and with Nat there, I did not need to take risks.
Just wanted to support her. Partnership was amazing, wanted to keep things simple and easy. We took calculated risks and that helped us. (On their score) 150 was not a decent total, but in matches like that, pressure games, it always looks like 180 and credit goes to our bowlers. They had that belief they could give us breakthroughs in the powerplay.
They (Ismail and Sciver-Brunt) created that opportunity for us and got us the game. Really happy the way everyone bowled in the team today. We made things very clear for everyone, had one-to-one meetings to clear their roles. We knew we had four experienced bowlers, and we knew whoever is in the game that day, we will give them the opportunity to do that (bowl those four overs) for us.
They (Ishaque, Amanjot, Gupta) knew their roles and really enjoyed a lot playing with them. It (this win) means a lot. First season, we tried to do everything right. When we met this season, we discussed how things did not go right (last season). We wanted to keep things simple and as a team, we did that. Really happy we got support from the support staff, and really happy the way we played.
India
