Harleen Deol, Tryon power UP Warriorz to first win of season
Against Mumbai Indians (MI), the defending champions, a resurgent UP Warriorz (UPW) team scored their first points of the tournament to give their WPL 2026 campaign some life. MI suffered their second defeat in four games as a result of UPW's fresh approach despite playing consecutive games.
Even though Nat Sciver-Brunt's 65 lifted MI to 161, Harleen Deol smashed an unbeaten 64 off 39 balls, barely 24 hours after she had been contentiously retired out, to lead the UPW chase. The pace bowlers of UPW controlled the powerplay, and their spinners briefly stifled MI's batters. In her second WPL innings, she hit the boundary 12 times and watched Chloe Tryon score an unbeaten 27 off 11 runs to secure the seven-wicket victory.
MI made the decision to partner Amanjot Kaur with G Kamalini at the top after Amelia Kerr's struggles opening the batting in the first two games, but neither strategy was successful. In the powerplay, which yielded 32 runs—the second-lowest total in the WPL without losing a wicket—Kranti Gaud and Shikha Pandey kept swinging the new ball away from the openers, who kept edging and missing. Kamalini hardly moved her feet, and while Amanjot delivered occasionally when she gained width, she edged and missed numerous times.
In the third over, Amanjot almost fell for 6, but her outside edge struck first slip and the wicketkeeper for four. While facing 27 of the 36 balls in the powerplay, her edges became a consistent theme. Gaud bowled her fourth over with her tail up, scoring two boundaries with outside and inside edges in three balls. It was Deepti Sharma and Sophie Ecclestone who soon had the openers holing out in consecutive overs: Amanjot fell for 38 off 33, whereas Kamalini's horror night ended on 5 off 12.
The experienced duo of Harmanpreet Kaur and Sciver-Brunt were also unable to put the ball away as Deepti and Ecclestone then looped and turned the ball with such a lack of pace. After the halfway point, Sciver-Brunt opened the gap with a reverse sweep, and in the 13th over, Harmanpreet hit a massive six off Asha Sobhana. Asha responded immediately with a wicket, but Tryon deserves credit for his stunning diving catch at square leg.
As Sciver-Brunt began to effortlessly fill in the gaps, all she needed for company was a knowledgeable Nicola Carey. In order to push the run rate closer to seven, she pulled Asha for two fours and a straight six in between. Sciver-Brunt's streak of boundaries led to her 32-ball fifty, which was her 10th in the WPL and tied for most with Harmanpreet and Meg Lanning. Carey then hammered Tryon for four fours in an over. After Sciver-Brunt had been run out earlier by a one-handed effort from Lanning, she was given another chance when Deepti failed to capitalize on a difficult return opportunity in the 15-run 18th over. MI was held to a score that was below par by UPW in the final two overs.
As Deol came out with intent, it was almost as if the decision to retire had ignited something in her. With a cut, drive, and late dab to pierce different gaps on the off side, she started by collecting three fours from her first three deliveries. The cameras showed coach Abhishek Nayar, who had called her back on Wednesday, right away. With a "no" 3 Phoebe Litchfield was also in good shape at the other end, and Deol kept going after MI because they kept giving them space on the outside.
She continued her streak by scoring three fours in four balls and all on the off side against Shabnim Ismail, making the total a gettable 64 from 48. She pulled Kerr behind square and finally collected her first boundary through leg after striking eight fours in her first 20 balls, all of which were on the off side. Deol, on the other hand, scored a fifty off 32 balls and smashed Gupta for three fours in her 15-run over before Kerr bowled Litchfield out for the eighth time in T20 matches.
Deol and Tryon kept their foot on the gas for regular boundaries and finished the game with 11 balls left, making the equation a comfortable 29 off 24.
