UP Warriorz chose to bowl vs Mumbai Indians
UP Warriorz won the toss and opted to bowl first in their WPL clash against an under-strength Mumbai Indians side missing captain Harmanpreet Kaur and pace bowler Shabnim Ismail in Bengaluru.
Harmanpreet and Ismail were out with small “niggles”, said Nat Sciver-Brunt, standing as captain for Harmanpreet, of whom she added: “It’s quite early on in the competition and the games come thick and fast so we didn’t want to risk it. She’ll be right for later on.”
Ismail’s absence means a first start in this year’s competition for fellow quick Issy Wong, who enjoyed an excellent debut season for Mumbai but has lost her place in the England side, playing just one T20I last year. Humaira Kazi also comes into the Mumbai side.
Alyssa Healy, Warriorz captain, said her side were keen to turn their results around. They have made one change, with seamer Anjali Sarvani coming into the side in place of left-arm spinner Gouher Sultana.
“We got pretty close in that first game and, on review, we probably should have got ourselves over the line but we were well out-classed the other night, so we’re just up for a better performance tonight,” Healy said at the toss.
“There’s always a bit of extra spice when the Ashes is involved but we’re at the WPL right now and we’re all enjoying playing in this Indian environment so we’ll just have to wait and see,” she added of the Australia-England rivalry between the captains for this match.
UP Warriorz: Alyssa Healy (wk, capt), Vrinda Dinesh, Tahlia McGrath, Grace Harris, Shweta Sehrawat, Kiran Navgire, Poonam Khemnar, Deepti Sharma, Sophie Ecclestone, Anjali Sarvani, Rajeshwari Gayakwad
Mumbai Indians: Hayley Matthews, Yastika Bhatia (wk), Nat Sciver-Brunt (capt), Amelia Kerr, Pooja Vastrakar, Amanjot Kaur, S Sajana, Humaira Kazi, Issy Wong, SB Keerthana, Saika Ishaque
