Mumbai Indians suffered another heartbreaking defeat in the ongoing Women’s Premier League 2026 as the defending champions lost their fourth game out of six matches on Tuesday, January 20.
The Harmanpreet Kaur-led side faced troubles with their powerplay batting yet again and managed to put up a modest score of 154/5 in their 20 overs. Nat Sciver-Brunt and Harmanpreet Kaur came up with strong knocks of 65 and 41, while most of the other batters did not find their mojo.
The Capitals managed to chase down the target after some hiccup, with captain Jemimah Rodrigues scoring an unbeaten 51 from 37 balls, while Marizanne Kapp made an unscathed 10 from six deliveries, including the winning six off Sciver-Brunt.
The win kept the Capitals very much in the reckoning in the tournament as they now have two wins in five matches. However, this was Mumbai’s fourth loss of the season. This is now the first time that MI have lost four games in the league stage of the tournament.
Kaur blames powerplay batting and bowling
MI captain Harmanpreet Kaur was disappointed after the loss and reasoned that their powerplay batting and bowling has not been able to perform well. “Yeah, I think, we were 20 runs short by bat, and even in the powerplay, we were not able to execute, even with the bat and ball. I think that is something which is really bothering us throughout this tournament. And I think we need to really, you know, push ourselves when we are batting in the powerplay and when we are bowling in the powerplay,” Kaur said after the loss.
MI have also tried several combinations in the ongoing season, some of which are due to the injury issues they have faced. “(so many different opening combinations) Yeah, I mean, before starting the tournament, we’ve been struggling with the injuries because the first few matches Hayley was not there, and then now Kamalini got injured. So I think that is the reason we had to keep trying our opening pair, but yeah, it’s not an excuse, but whoever is batting there, we have to take the responsibility, and you know, bat well for the team,” she said.
Meanwhile, Rodrigues was pleased with the way they won the game. “Yeah, I think today was a very important game for us. Firstly, I think I would like to share this award with Kappy as well, if we can do that, they said no, because the way she bowled in the powerplay to bowl that spell, I think that got us in the game and gave us the momentum,” Rodrigues said.
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