Six similarities between Indian T20 League and Womens T20 League opener

The Mumbai franchise defeated the Gujarat franchise with a staggering 143 runs defeat in the opening match of the inaugural Women’s T20 League on Saturday, March 4. The event was played at the Dr. DY Patil Stadium in Navi Mumbai. The Mumbai franchise batters Hayley Matthews, Nat Sciver-Brunt, captain Harmanpreet Kaur, and Amelia Kerr all contributed as the home team scored a whopping 207 runs after being put into bat. The Gujarat side was bundled out for 64 when their captain Beth Mooney was injured in the first over, as the score proved to be too much for them.

Harmanpreet was the standout performer with the bat for the Mumbai side, carrying on her semi-final 20-20 World Cup performance of smashing bowlers all over the ground. This is not the first time when someone is sent into bat, one batter doing the most of the scoring, the opposition being knocked out for a double-digit score.

Actually, when the Indian T20 League first started 15 years ago, the Kolkata franchise defeated the Bangalore franchise by the same score when Brendon McCullum went off the tracks and scored an undefeated knock of 158 from just 73 balls. The opponent was bowled out for only 82 as Kolkata scored a huge 222 in that game.

Similarities between Indian T20 League and Women’s T20 League inaugural games

1. The side batting first (Kolkata in Indian T20 League, Mumbai in Womens T20 League) wins the match despite the toss winner (Bangalore in Indian T20 League, Gujarat in Womens T20 League) electing to bowl first.

2. The team that loses the toss is given the chance to bat first and score more than 200 runs (222 by Kolkata in Indian T20 League, 207 by Mumbai in Womens T20 League).

3. The winning margin of over 140 runs (Kolkata beat Bangalore by 140 runs, Mumbai beat Gujarat by 143 runs).

4. The team batting first had a better individual score than the entire team batting second (McCullum’s 158* was 76 runs higher than Bangalore’s 82, while Harmanpreet‘s 65 was only one run more than Gujarat’s 64).

5. The strike rate of the top run-getters for the team batting first ( McCullum’s was 216.43 while Harmanpreet struck at 216.67).

6. The team batting second got bundled out in 15.1 overs (Bangalore 82 all-out and Gujarat 64 all-out)