Amelia Kerr (31, 4/17) starred with a fantastic all-round performance as defending champions Mumbai Indians made it two wins in the first two matches after beating Gujarat Giants in Match 3 at the M Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bengaluru.
A brilliant bowling performance from Mumbai Indians, led by the fiery Shabnim Ismail (3/18) and astute Kerr (4/17), helped the defending champions restrict GG to 126/9.
Captain Harmanpreet Kaur (46*) and Kerr (31) then played composed knocks to help MI chase down the target with 11 balls to spare after an early stutter.
Chasing 127, MI stuttered early, losing openers Yastika Bhatia and Hayley Matthews inside the first four overs. After crucial knocks with the bat for GG, Kathryn Bryce and Tanuja Kanwer carried forward the confidence in the second innings and dismissed Bhatia and Hayley Matthews, respectively, to provide a good start.
Nat Sciver-Brunt then released some pressure with creative stroke-play, hitting three fours off scoop shots. Just as MI were gaining some momentum, a brilliant tag-team fielding effort from Kanwer and Mooney ran out Sciver-Brunt (22 off 18).
Captain Harmanpreet Kaur and Amelia Kerr then got together, steadied the ship with singles, twos and an odd boundary an over to bring calmness and composure to the chase as MI reached 100 in the 14th over, with the equation coming down to 27 off 36. The two added 66(50) for the fourth wicket to put MI in the driver's seat before Lea Tahuhu finally provided GG with the breakthrough by trapping Kerr (31 off 25) LBW. There was a slight stutter as MI lost Pooja Vastrakar soon for 1. Captain Kaur (46* off 41), though, kept her calm and took MI past the finish line in style with a six to win the match by five wickets.
Earlier, Mumbai Indians won the toss and elected to field. Pacer Shabnim Ismail breathed fire early on and once again struck early as she trapped Veda Krishnamurthy, who reviewed unsuccessfully, LBW off just the fourth ball of the match. She then dismissed Harleen Deol, who also reviewed unsuccessfully, in a similar fashion in her next over to provide Mumbai Indians the perfect start.
Beth Mooney then released some pressure with a couple of streaky fours off Matthews, followed by Phoebe Litchfield making it three in the over with a reverse sweep. But Ismail built the pressure again with a tight five-run over. Nat Sciver-Brunt reaped the rewards of it as she dismissed Litchfield in the next over to reduce GG to 37/3. Matthews then joined the wicket-taking party as she had Dayalan Hemalatha caught at long on in the 8th over. MI maintained the stranglehold. The boundaries dried up as GG reached 58/4 at the halfway stage without a single boundary after the fourth over.
Harmanpreet then brought back Ismail, and she struck off her first ball, outfoxing captain Beth Mooney (24 off 22) with a slower one that she looked to shuffle and scoop but only managed to edge it to the keeper.
Kerr compounded GG's misery as she sent back Ashleigh Gardner and Sneh Rana in the same over, displaying her range with clever leggie and googly to dismiss the two, respectively.
Tanuja Kanwer (28 off 21) and Kathryn Bryce (25 off 24) then got together and stitched a crucial 48-run stand off 36 balls to take GG past 100 and help them post 126/9.
Amelia Kerr took two wickets in the final over and finished with excellent figures of 4/17, while Shabnim Ismail finished with brilliant figures of 3/18. GG hit just 10 fours and two sixes in the entire innings.