Matthews, Sciver-Brunt carry Mumbai Indians into WPL final
Mumbai, Mar 13 (PTI): Nat Sciver-Brunt and Hayley Matthews carried Mumbai Indians to their second WPL final as their power-packed knocks laid the cornerstone for the team's 47-run win over Gujarat Giants in the Eliminator here on Thursday.
After a rather sedate powerplay, Sciver-Brunt (77 off 41) and Matthews (77 off 50) displayed brute force to fire Mumbai Indians to a daunting 213 for four.
Mumbai Indians skipper Harmanpreet Kaur (36 off 12) provided the finishing touches with a crisp cameo.
After an ordinary show in the field and with the ball, the Giants were on self-destructing mode in the chase with three run-outs being an indicator of that.
Their innings ended at 166 all out in 19.2 overs with Matthews also chipping in with the ball, striking twice.
It was Mumbai Indians' seventh straight win over the Giants in WPL history.
Mumbai Indians, who won the inaugural edition in 2023, will meet Delhi Capitals in the final on Saturday.
Debutant Daniell Gibson (34 off 24) and Phoebe Litchfield (31 off 20) looked in threatening touch but regular fall of wickets kept pegging the Giants back.
The highlight of Litchfield's effort was the switch hit of Matthews.
Skipper Ashleigh Gardner, who bailed her team out on multiple occasions, had an off day with the bat.
Indian batter Bharti Fulmali delayed the inevitable with an impressive 30 off 20 balls.
Having finished last in the past two seasons, reaching the knock-out stage was a welcome result for Gujarat Giants.
Earlier Sciver-Brunt, who forms the backbone of Mumbai Indians batting, disdainfully smashed pacers and spinners, collecting 10 fours and two sixes in the process.
Realising Mumbai had got only 37 in the powerplay, Matthews and Sciver-Brunt changed gears.
While the England batter took the attack to debutant pacer Danielle Gibson, Matthews hammered three consecutive boundaries off leg-spinner Priya Mishra.
Matthews, who began cautiously before cutting loose, got to her fifty with a six off a long hop from left-arm spinner Tanuja Kanwer.
In the death overs, it was raining sixes from the bat of Harmanpreet who cleared the ropes four times in her sizzling effort.
Mumbai Indians smashed 73 in the last five overs.
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Rupee declines 27 paise to 90.95 against US dollar in early trade
Mumbai (PTI): The rupee depreciated 27 paise to 90.95 against the US dollar in early trade on Friday, weighed down by a strong American currency and higher crude oil prices due to the escalated geopolitical tension.
A selling rush in domestic equities further pressured the Indian currency, forex traders said.
At the interbank foreign exchange, the rupee opened at 90.94 and slipped further to trade at 90.95 against the greenback in early deals, losing 27 paise from its previous closing level.
The rupee rose 4 paise to settle at 90.68 against the US dollar on Wednesday. The currency exchange markets were closed on Thursday on account of Chatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Jayanti.
Meanwhile, the dollar index, which gauges the greenback's strength against a basket of six currencies, was trading 0.04 per cent higher at 97.89.
Brent crude, the global oil benchmark, was trading 0.14 per cent higher at USD 71.77 per barrel in futures trade.
Analysts attributed the strengthening dollar and crude prices to heightened tension between the US and Iran, with both countries signalling they are prepared for war if talks on Tehran's nuclear programme fizzle out.
On the domestic equity market front, Sensex fell 150.35 points to 82,347.79 in early trade while the Nifty declined 35.15 points to 25,419.20.
On Thursday, foreign institutional investors offloaded equities worth Rs 880.49 crore, according to exchange data.
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