Even for a contest that was as one-sided as the one played out on Wednesday evening, between Mumbai Indians and UP Warriorz, there were a few moments where the momentum hung in balance. One among those was at the end of the 12th over of Warriorz’s innings. UP Warriorz’s decision to break the Indian top-order trio and add some extra firepower upfront by promoting Grace Harris to open, had paid off. Even as Kiran Navgire departed early, Harris took apart Shabnim Ismail for a hat-trick of boundaries and then tore into Hayley Matthews, collecting two sixes and as many fours to provide Warriorz the start they would’ve hoped for. A promise that flickered with 48 runs on the board at the end of the fourth over, however, vanished soon. The second-wicket partnership, between Harris and Vrinda Dinesh, extended to 79 runs before the former was trapped leg-before while attempting to slogsweep Amelia Kerr’s googly early in the 10th over. The game stood in balance even at that point. But old concerns, that have become now a recurring visitor, stopped by again to say hello – the middle order collapse. In five games so far, Warriorz have lost 24 wickets during the middle overs. Sanskriti Gupta was the beneficiary of the fall this time. Vrinda holed out to deep square leg and Tahlia McGrath was cleaned up. In the next over, Deepti Sharma’s top-edged sweep couldn’t make it past Harmanpreet Kaur’s leap at short fine leg as UPW slipped to 93 for 5. The momentum had shifted in favour of Mumbai Indians, but the early blaze of Harris had meant that UPW too had the chance to dictate the last stretch of their innings. And to take control of that phase, they had Chinelle Henry yet to come. The hard-hitting West Indian has not only put to the fore the best of her batting skills in this tournament, but has also been the momentum-shifter and the game-changer for UPW. M. Chinnaswamy Stadium, the same venue, was a witness to her destructive powers only a few days ago. At that point, with only eight overs left and the game still largely in balance, there was a possibility of exposing Henry to face roughly 25 to 30 deliveries. But not for the first time, they decided to hold her back, and sent in Uma Chetry instead. That was the start of the slide of UPW’s fortunes from which they never recovered, even if partially at times promised to do so. By the time Henry walked in to bat on Wednesday, with 32 balls remaining, not only the potential number of balls that she could face had dropped significantly but also was she pushed into the fifth gear earlier than adequate. In 2.4 overs of the lost time, Chetry had struggled her way to two runs in eight deliveries. Henry’s limitations in hitting were exploited by Kim Garth in the Super Over against Royal Challengers Bengaluru when the pacer had taken the pace off, short and outside the offstump line with adequate protection in the deep. Nat Sciver-Brunt employed a similar strategy, while Shabnim Ismail introduced some variations. But with the scoring rate dropping significantly, the attempts to manufacture big shots proved counter-productive, and she mistimed a swipe to a cutter to the deep mid wicket fielder. Unlike most other teams in the women’s game that allow their power-hitters greater ball-facing opportunities, UPW have unusually held back their muscle in the team. Whether it was Harris in the previous games or Henry in all the encounters, they’ve played the waiting game to accelerate. The onus has been on Kiran Navgire to provide the early blitz in the powerplay, and with Deepti and Vrinda unable quite exploit the field restrictions, much of UPW’s fortunes have been burdened on Navgire. On days when Henry has provided that power lower down the order, like in the two encounters against Delhi Capitals, the move to hold her back doesn’t seem too bothersome. Yet, even in those innings, the fact that she returned unbeaten was an indicator that had she gotten more deliveries to face, there could have been potential for higher scores. By the time Henry could eventually come out to bat, the odds of the contest had already become heavier in favour of the inaugural champions. Given how Nat Sciver-Brunt batted later in her innings and the eventual margin of victory, it would be unfair to pin the blame on one decision. Concerns were many, including the usual slip-ups on the field. The gaze shifts towards the underutilisation of Henry’s batting abilities is primarily because of the lack of experienced Indian batters in the UPW setup as also the lack of contributions from the overseas batters. Primary among their concerns is the inability of Tahlia McGrath – who should have ideally served as the backbone of the middle order – to get past the binary scores of 1 and 0. On the one occasion she did, she struggled to go past the run-a-ball pace. That Tahlia found a place in the side despite another capable all-rounder, Chamari Athapaththu, available as an option on the bench is merely an extension of how UP Warriorz have operated this season, trusting their personnel with long runs before making panic changes. Have we seen a team in yellow jersey do that at an Indian league before? Maybe, yes. However, five games down, there are only two wins to boast of. One eked out through a late all-round effort of Sophie Ecclestone and another courtesy Henry’s multi-record-smashing knock. Multiple players are enduring poor form, and those who have shown glimpses of promise have failed to fire in unison. Given the tightly contested situation the teams are in, UP Warriorz are now left with only two options: trust or panic. On Wednesday, they opted for ‘trust’ with their plans, but it didn’t yield the desired result. For as wise as they wish to be at this point with their team selections and strategies,…
