With a stunning all-round show at Mumbai’s Brabourne Stadium, Mathews gave everyone, not least the noisy stand by the site screen at the end of the commentators’ box, a humble reminder of the awesomeness she can do. One that continues to give West Indies hope as they look to bounce back from a slump.
Royal Challengers Mathews did almost single-handedly. After an 11-run opening over, in which Smriti Mandhana and Sophie Devine hit a four and a six respectively, she came back to dismiss Mandhana in the final over of the powerplay. He bowled one out, prompting Mandhana to charge him before the dip and turn meant the batsman cut it. On the very next ball, she slipped to a full that went under Heather Knight’s flick and got her out for a duck on the first ball.
Mathews helped Mumbai win the first armwrestling leg against Royal Challengers.
Matthews dashed any semblance of those hopes. He used the width provided by Renuka Singh to drive one past point in the opening over before flicking one through square leg in the third over. He then edged left-arm spinner Preeti Bose over deep square leg before going back to a half-tracker and punching it to cover.
Megan Schutt, who scored 20 off 14 balls earlier, was next in the firing line for Mathews. Mathews punched through first cover before timing a straight drive past the bowler as Mumbai reached 54 for 1 at the end of the powerplay, with Bose trapping Bhatia for the only wicket of the phase.
Even after the fielding restrictions were lifted, Mathews hit Renuka for two fours in an over and eventually scored his half-century – after narrowly missing out on the opening encounter – off just 26 balls as Mumbai were 95 for 1 in ten overs. Scored runs. The sign Nat Sciver-Brunt’s canter was reduced to a postscript.
After that, Mumbai scored 61 runs off 26 balls to register another huge win. Mathews was coming back with a big smile and scored 55 not out with 29 not out to make 77 not out in just 38 balls.
After these feats, only two words explain why Mathews didn’t get a pick in the first round of the WPL auction – “auction dynamics”.
