Batter, leader: Delivering for champs

Skipper Harmanpreet timed her batting surge perfectly to help Mumbai Indians land their 2nd title

- Rutvick Mehta

MUMBAI: The Brabourne Stadium was still buzzing when Mumbai Indians, freshly crowned Women's Premier League winners for a second time in front of their home fans, took a lap of honour.

Among the last faces in that champions' crowd was Harmanpreet Kaur, the skipper walking a tad slower, behind the exuberant pace-setters. Moments later, she sprang a couple of steps 20 forward and leapt to embrace Jhulan Goswami and the two held that pose for a few seconds.

As champions of the inaugural season who came up just short in the Eliminator last year, Harmanpreet was eager to recreate such scenes and bring MI back to where she believed they belonged. For that, she knew a few tweaks had to be made within the team and in herself as a batter.

It brought out the best of MI as a unit, and Harmanpreet as a match-winner and clutch player.

In MI's hectic final home stretch that featured four games in six days, the last two being highpressure knockouts, Harmanpreet's scores read 54 (33b), 20 (18b), 36 (12b) and 66 (44b).