The inaugural WPL 2023 began on March 4 with a match between the Gujarat Giants and the Mumbai Indians. The new T20 league at the Dr. DY Patil Sports Academy was anticipated by cricket fans as a thrilling match. However, nothing came of it.
By an incredible 143 runs, the Mumbai Indians defeated the Gujarat Giants. MI batted first and scored a massive 207 runs in their 20 overs after being asked to bat.
Gujarat, chasing 208, lost wickets quickly and scored only 64 runs. The Giants’ situation got worse when their skipper, Beth Mooney, got hurt and had to leave the field during the inning.
The inaugural Women’s Premier League match between the Kolkata Knight Riders and Royal Challengers Bangalore in 2008 was similar in many ways to the inaugural IPL match.
We will examine five similarities between the inaugural match of the IPL and the inaugural match of the WPL in this list.
#1 Team batting 1st recorded a win by 140 in their opening games
The team batting first won both the IPL and WPL’s first games by at least 140 runs. The scorecards for the IPL and WPL’s first matches look very similar. The Kolkata Knight Riders scored 222/3 in 20 overs in the inaugural IPL match. After that, KKR defeated Royal Challengers Bangalore by 140 runs by bowling them out for 82.
In the first game of the Women’s Premier League, Mumbai Indians scored 207/5 in 20 overs. The Gujarat Giants lost by 143 runs after being skittled out for 64 runs. In both matches, the winning margins of victory are remarkably similar.
#2 The winning team’s opener had a strike rate of less than 100
In the inaugural WPL and IPL seasons, Mumbai Indians Women and Kolkata Knight Riders both scored over 200 runs. On the other hand, one of their openers was unable to get going.
For KKR, captain Sourav Ganguly lost his wicket in the wake of scoring 10 runs off 12 balls. Yastika Bhatia, MI’s wicketkeeper, failed to score a run in eight attempts and was sent to the locker room. Therefore, despite the fact that both teams scored more than 200, their opener scored less than run-a-ball.
#3 The losing captain won the toss and chose to field first
Mumbai Indians Women in the season opener for the Gujarat Giants Women. It was clear that the Giants were not going to benefit from the decision.
Similarly, Royal Challengers Bangalore chose to bowl first against Kolkata Knight Riders in the IPL 2008 opener after winning the toss. RCB’s plans for that contest had been derailed by Brendon McCullum’s memorable 158*.
#4 Match start time
April 18, 2008, the Indian Premier League match between Royal Challengers Bangalore and Kolkata Knight Riders began at 8:00 p.m. IST. On March 4, 2023, the Mumbai Indians vs. Gujarat Giants WPL match was originally scheduled to begin at 7:30 p.m. IST.
However, just a few hours prior to the match, the organizers changed the start time to 8:00 PM IST. In the IPL and WPL’s first seasons, therefore, the toss and start of the contest are the same.
#5 The score of the losing team was lower than the score of the winning team’s top run scorer
Harmanpreet Kaur scored the most runs for the Mumbai Indians, scoring 65 runs. The Gujarat Giants were all out for 64 after failing to match Kaur’s score.
Similarly, in the inaugural IPL match, RCB were all out for 82 runs. The memorable 158 run by Brendon McCullum was nearly double that score.
It is truly remarkable that in both matches, the winning team’s leading scorer was able to score more runs than the entire opposition. Yet another striking resemblance!