Lanning, Litchfield help UPW do the double over MI

Meg Lanning and Phoebe Litchfield scored 119 runs to propel UP Warriorz (UPW) to a second consecutive victory over Mumbai Indians (MI) in the WPL. Lanning and Litchfield hit 50s in their first at-bats to propel UPW to 187 for 8. However, in their final game in Navi Mumbai, a reshuffled MI batting lineup struggled in the chase and fell to their third defeat of the season. After starting the 2026 season with three losses, UPW became the second team to beat MI twice in the league. They joined the Delhi Capitals, and Lanning served as the link between them and the team. With Shabnim Ismail rested, Nicola Carey opened the bowling and continued her excellent form by removing Kiran Navgire for a golden duck with an inswinging yorker that beat the batter all ends up. But Lanning made sure that UPW had a good powerplay. Lanning got going with a pick-up flick off Carey that went all the way after Litchfield got her first boundary with an inside edge through backward square leg. Carey's flick was the first one Lanning hit. In the third inning, that over resulted in 12 runs. Nat Sciver-Brunt was then swept square leg by Lanning before Carey gave him two more boundaries. Litchfield drove Hayley Matthews through cover in the sixth over before Lanning hit consecutive boundaries to bring UPW to 56 for 1 at the conclusion of the powerplay. Litchfield was on 18 off 16 after Amelia Kerr bowled a quiet eighth over and needed to pick up the pace. She drove Amanjot Kaur squarely for four in the next over before skipping down the track to loft her over long-off. In the following over, Lanning hit 35 balls to reach her half-century, knocking Kerr over long-off. As the two Australians started to pick up the pace, Litchfield, whom Kerr has dismissed eight times in T20 matches, also lofted her over her head for a boundary. Sciver-Brunt's quiet over followed, with Triveni Vasisht dropping Litchfield. However, Lannning and Litchfield each scored a boundary off Sanskriti Gupta. After that, UPW had a two-over frenzy on the 13th and 14th, when they scored 34 runs but lost both of their set batters. When Litchfield swept Amanjot for six and then hit a cover drive for a 33-ball fifty, she barely beat Carey, who was running to her left at deep midwicket. Litchfield pulled her for a second boundary through the middle of the wicket when Amanjot went short. She then chipped one to cover, at which point Harmanpreet Kaur gave her another life. Before a pick-up flick found deep backward square, where Sanskriti held on this time, Litchfield picked up another six off long-off to make it 20 runs over. Lanning took on Matthews in the next over because he didn't want to put any pressure on him. He hit a couple of short balls for back-to-back fours. She picked a deep square leg and swept the offspinner for another boundary before finishing on 70 off 45. MI started the game with the lowest run rate and the second-worst average for the first partnership. S Sajana and Matthews teamed up for their fourth different lineup of the season on Saturday. Matthews got off to a good start, scoring three goals through the opposite side off of Kranti Gaud and Shikha Pandey. In the third over, Sajana got involved, pulling Gaud over midwicket for six before getting an outside edge for four. However, Gaud made a strong comeback by entangling her in front, giving UPW the first victory. After Matthews missed a sweep, Ecclestone almost called Matthews out, despite the fact that it appeared close. But it didn't matter because Ecclestone bowled a wicket maiden after Matthews chipped the next ball back to him. After that, Sciver-Brunt hit a couple of boundaries off of Gaud, and Harmanpreet was clever enough to slide one between the backward point and the short third off of Ecclestone. However, they only scored 38 runs in the first six innings, continuing MI's pattern of slow starts. After the powerplay, Sciver-Brunt, who appeared to be in good form, hit Pandey straight to Lanning at cover in the first over, making the defending champions' job more difficult. After that, Carey was mishandled by Deepti in the first over, and Deol took a good catch running back from mid-on. Harmanpreet, who was having trouble getting going, pulled Tryon for a six at midwicket but fell while trying the same shot. MI was effectively out of the game after losing half their team and needing to score at over 13 runs per over. Kerr and Amanjot tried to mount a comeback, with an 83-run sixth-wicket stand that saw the latter hammer three sixes, but they could not keep up with the asking rate. In the penultimate over, Amanjot caught Pandey on the return, and MI fell 22 runs short.