Mumbai women Plate Group T20 champs: Journey to the crown

After playing the longer format, Mumbai eves were all-charged up to play the shorter version of the game. The senior women’s T20 tournament commenced on 2^nd January 2016. Mumbai were placed in the Plate Group and had Saurashtra, Vidarbha, Uttar Pradesh and Tripura for company in Plate Group B. Mumbai played one match against each team in the league stage and to Mumbai fans’ joy, the Mumbai women remained invincible, winning all the four matches that they played in Lucknow. Undoubtedly Mumbai qualified for the knock out that was staged at Ranchi. Be it Lucknow or Ranchi, Mumbai women had just one aim; to clinch the T20 championship and elevate to the Elite Group next year. Haryana in the quarter-final, Himachal Pradesh in the semi-final and ultimately Uttar Pradesh in the final, the lion on the Mumbai jersey roared and pounced on the opponents.

If you look at Mumbai’s performance from the outset, it is clearly an envious one. Though you may not find any one player scoring exceptionally big or picking a fifer, what matters in the end is how well has the team performed as a unit; which is evident from the fact that Mumbai remained unbeaten throughout the tourney. Mumbai as it is known for the diverse set of people it has, women’s cricket also proved its diversity. On one hand we had senior cricketer Sulakshana Naik (155 runs in 7 matches) scoring the highest runs for Mumbai and on the other, child prodigy Fatima Jaffer (10 wickets in 6 matches) picking up maximum wickets for Mumbai. Under the able leadership of veteran cricketer Sunetra Paranjape, Mumbai proved its mettle on 15^th January 2016 when it thrashed Uttar Pradesh by eight wickets and went on to win the Plate Group T20 championship. Well-played Mumbai and we all hope that you scale greater heights in future as well.