WPL: Hours after being retired out, Harleen Deol plays statement knock to script UP Warriorz first win

MUMBAI: Harleen Deol bounced back from the disappointment of being retired out with a match-winning half century 24 hours later as UP Warriorz downed defending champions Mumbai Indians by seven wickets for their first victory of WPL 2026 here on Thursday.

Nat-Sciver Brunt (65 off 43 balls) batted with the brute force she is known for to lift Mumbai Indians to 161 for five after a rather ordinary first half of the innings.It was the first success of the season for UPW in four games while Mumbai Indians suffered their second loss in four matches.

She batted with renewed purpose and plenty of intent to collect boundaries at will including three in an over off the accomplished Shabnim Ismail.

What stood in Harleen’s knock was her play square of the wicket on the off-side and effortless manner in which she scored her runs. The India batter completed her fifty in the 15th over, a sweep off spinner Sanskriti Gupta. Two more fours followed in the same over, reducing the equation to 29 off 24 balls with However, the troubles for UP Warriors at the top of the order persisted with Meg Lanning (25 off 26) and Kiran Navgire (10 off 12) unable to provide a lightening start.

Earlier, the opening pairing of Amanjot Kaur (38 off 33) and G Kamalimi (5 off 12) could never really get going on a slow pitch that offered assistance to the spinners.

Sciver-Brunt and skipper Harmanpreet Kaur (16 off 11) got together after the openers departed in successive overs.After Harmanpreet fell to a sweep shot off Asha Shobhana, Nicola Carey provided ideal support to Sciver-Brunt, who kept collecting boundaries for fun.

It was the 17-run over from Shobhana that gave the innings much needed momentum with Sciver-Brunt hammering a coupe of fours and a straight six.

Harleen (64 not out off 39), who was retired out on Wednesday despite batting well, proved a point by anchoring UPW’s run chase to perfection.