Hayley Matthews is extremely relieved that the Mumbai Indians’ depth of the batting lineup has allowed her to go all out from the start, as she has done in both of the WPL games she has played so far.
The Barbados-born 24-year-old batsman started the MI innings with a score of 47 off 31 balls in the first match against Gujarat Giants. She then went on to score a match-winning unbeaten 77 off 38 balls and take three wickets in her team’s emphatic nine-wicket victory over Royal Challengers Bangalore.
A lot of stars make up our team. Matthews, who scored 13 fours and a six in MI’s 156-run chase, said, “It has probably given the freedom at the top of the order here to go out there and bat.”
In fact, Matthews stated that after playing on slow tracks in South Africa during the T20 World Cup, playing on better batting tracks at the DY Patil and Brabourne Stadium has certainly improved her game.
I recently attempted to bring that form here. Additionally, batting on much better wickets than in South Africa has helped. Additionally, it has raised confidence,” she added.
Matthews believes that a target of 175 to 180 is highly changeable on a batting belter like the one at the Brabourne Stadium.
“It was a great wicket to bat on. At par was probably a score of 170 or more. She stated, “I think both Nat (Sciver-Brunt) and I were able to do that and secure a very good win.”
She also turned into a star with the ball, and she thinks that her team’s biggest USP is having a lot of players with multiple skills.
I anticipate that they will occasionally toss me the ball because, thankfully, they selected me as an all-rounder. The Mumbai Indians team has so many options for bowlers that, unlike in the previous game, I was required to bowl today. That is the beauty of our current team,” Matthews continued.
Matthews believes that taking on more responsibility for West Indies has helped her improve her game.
With the West Indies, I definitely needed to put on more weight. Naturally, it helps me with my entire T20 came, and it has also helped me here.” She has also been able to shift her mindset, and unlike when she first started playing international cricket, she is not always in a rush to succeed.
Matthews stated, “I probably wasn’t getting the number of runs that I wanted due to probably giving my head too quickly. However, now I have been forcing responsibility and international cricket has helped me understand how to build my T20 innings.” Matthews was referring to the fact that Matthews was playing T20 cricket.
It’s a battle for the uncapped players at RCB: Ben Sawyer Although RCB head coach Ben Swayer put on a brave face, in a roundabout manner admitted that the team’s domestic Indian players are indeed up against a difficult challenge.
The RCB spent a lot of money hiring Smriti Mandhana, Richa Ghosh, and Ellyse Perry, but their domestic recruits lack the confidence they should have.
However, our uncapped players were exceptional. They got into a big fight. They now have the experience, but the fact that we lost all of our international players before the eighth over likely made the difference. We simply did not carry out our plans with the ball, “Sawyer stated.
Sawyer thinks that his team needs to improve because most of the batters aren’t getting good starts. Five of them reached the 20-run mark but were run out.
Swayer expects the same from RCB’s international stars, just as Grace Harris, Meg Lanning, and Matthews have done for their teams.