Inaugural TATA Women’s Premier League (WPL) champions Mumbai Indians (MI) are off the mark in Season Three. A dominant performance in the field was instrumental in the Harmanpreet Kaur-led side completing a comfortable five-wicket win in Match 5, helping them maintain their unbeaten run against Gujarat Giants (GG) with five wins out of five.

The trio of Hayley Matthews (3-16), Amelia Kerr (2-22), and Natalie Sciver-Brunt (2-26) ensured Mumbai only had to get 121 for victory. Their run-chase was not without hiccups, including Kaur falling early, but a second consecutive half-century from Sciver-Brunt (57 off 39) capped off a special all-round effort from the England star and secured the win with 23 balls to spare.

Earlier, going with the trend this tournament, MI captain Harmanpreet Kaur won the toss and elected to field. The decision quickly paid dividends as Sciver-Brunt got the huge wicket of Beth Mooney, who hit one straight to Sanskriti Gupta at backward point on the eighth ball of the innings. Laura Wolvaardt followed, holing out to deep cover off fellow South African Shabnim Ismail’s bowling.

MI’s superb fielding display was highlighted by Kerr, who took a stunning running catch in the deep to dismiss Dayalan Hemalatha off Matthews and GG were 16/3 inside the fourth over.

The defining moment of the Gujarat innings though came on the stroke of the powerplay with another MI player - Sajeevan Sajana on this occasion - gobbling up a catch in the deep as Sciver-Brunt got rid of the in-form Ashleigh Gardner for just 10 runs. GG had their backs firmly against the wall at 28/4 at the end of the powerplay.

GG lost half their side for only 43 as another top performer from the previous match, Deandra Dottin (7) also walked back cheaply with Kerr now contributing with the ball. Harleen Deol and Kashvee Gautam began to rebuild but their 24-run stand - GG’s joint-best partnership all innings - ended with Gautam’s (20 off 15) dismissal to make it 67/6.

Matthews did not put a foot wrong with the ball in hand and completed her 3-fer with Kerr taking another catch at deep mid-wicket to dismiss Simran Shaikh. Deol’s dismissal in the 17th over sank GG further, but her spirited lone fight (32 off 31) helped GG crawl their way to 120 at the end of 20 overs.

Matthews could not cause GG more damage with bat in hand, walking back for 17(19). MI made a solid start reaching 37/1 after six overs. But leggie Priya Mishra picked up from where she left off against UPW, striking in her very first over to dismiss Yastika Bhatia.

A big scalp followed in the very next over as Kaur (4) was trapped in front by Gautam on only the second ball she faced, leaving MI at 55/3 after eight overs.

Gautam and Mishra picked up two wickets each, but it was all too little too late as Sciver-Brunt's counter-attack - scoring another half-century to back up her unbeaten 80 from the match against Delhi Capitals - took MI home with 3.5 overs to spare. The chasing team has thus won all five matches so far this season.

Brief scores: Mumbai Indians 122/5 in 16.1 overs (Natalie Sciver-Brunt 57, Amelia Kerr 19, Kashvee Gautam 2-15) beat Gujarat Giants 120/10 in 19.3 overs (Harleen Deol 32, Hayley Matthews 3-16, Amelia Kerr 2-22, Natalie Sciver-Brunt 2-26).

The full scorecard and match details can be found here.