Indians of Mumbai The spectacular Women’s Premier League (WPL 2025) final between the Mumbai Indians Women (MI-W) and Delhi Capitals Women (DC-W) marked the conclusion of the thrilling women’s T20 cricket festival. Notably, Mumbai’s Brabourne Stadium hosted the exciting match.
After winning the toss, visiting captain Meg Lanning asked the home team to bat first. Mumbai rallied impressively in the last moments of the game and set Delhi a goal of 150 runs, despite not getting off to a great start. MUM-W captain Harmanpreet Kaur forged an important 89-run partnership with Natalie Sciver-Brunt for the third wicket after rescuing her team from early difficulties with a gutsy 66-run effort. In the WPL 2025 final on Saturday, the women defeated the Delhi Capitals Women by eight runs thanks to a crucial 30-run cameo from Natalie.
Talking Points
1. Was Lanning’s team in pursuit because she didn’t bat long enough?
Meg Lanning, the captain of the Delhi Capitals Women’s batting team, got off to a fast start in response to the run chase because she wanted to set the pace for the rest of the team. But in the second over of the run chase, all-rounder Natalie Sciver-Brunt got rid of her before she could turn her start into a major knock. Mumbai’s chances were further enhanced in the next over when pacer Shabnim Ismail trapped opener Shafali Varma in front.
2. The Mumbai spinners continued to exert pressure to maintain order.
By the middle of their innings, DC-W’s top four batsmen were back in the hut as spinners Saika Ishaque and Amelia Kerr further pressed their batsmen by preventing them from scoring runs at will. Jemimah Rodrigues, a middle order batswoman, attempted to counterattack Kerr and hold the fort from one end, but ultimately lost her wicket in an attempt to increase the scoring run rate. With the score at 67/5, DC-W was looking down the barrel at that point.
3. The futile resistance of Niki Prasad and Marizanne Kapp
After bowling very well, star all-rounder Marizanne Kapp attempted to go deep and fought till she was out after 35 runs. In the 18th, when Sciver-Brunt bowled, Kapp took a chance because of Ismail’s methodical bowling. The Delhi Capitals lost their third final of the Women’s Premier League by a narrow margin of eight runs, clinching the WPL trophy for a record-tying second time despite the efforts of young Niki Prasad.
Here are the comments made by the captains and Player of the Match (POTM) regarding the outcome of Saturday’s final.
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
