62 in just 23 balls Chinelle Henry's blitz, Kranti Goud's breakthrough, and a hat-trick

By the previously set standards in Women's Premier League, at the M Chinnaswamy Stadium, the crowd was sparse on Saturday night for the clash between UP Warriorz and Delhi Capitals. Even though they didn't have the home team to cheer for, they were willing to cheer on any action on the field, including sixes, wickets, dropped catches, and heated arguments. And there were plenty of those coming their way. For a contest that wouldn't count as the most thrilling played out this season - in fact not even among the most dramatic that the Capitals have been a part of - it still had several subplots unfolding, if not ebbs and flows, through the course of the game. Chinelle Henry Live! "We won't win the game if we score 120," UP Warriorz's head coach, Jon Lewis, has coached many teams in many countries in many different formats, but he hasn't won in nearly four and a half months. He probably understood better than most others what's not going to win his team a game. Thus, when Chinelle Henry walked out to bat at 89 for 6 in the 14th over, the coach had given clear instructions: attack. When she powered along to an unbeaten 15-ball 33 against the same opponent three nights ago in Vadodara, glimpses of Henry's hard-hitting abilities were evident from the start. Lewis was right to expect a repeat of that performance, for which she was held back as low as No. 8 in the batting order with her team in dire straits. She went above and beyond even those expectations, scoring faster and hitting for longer, shocking DC. Henry hit 8 sixes in her 23-ball 62, which was her best performance and arguably one of the most destructive innings in WPL history. She had never scored a half-century in elite-level cricket (internationals and franchise leagues). A few tournament records tumbled through the course of her innings. The fifty that was both fastest. Most sixes in an innings. The joint second most expensive over. Shikha Pandey bore most of the brunt, being at the receiving end of a 24-run over. Henry's knock flipped the momentum, took UPW to a respectable total and eventually that knock proved to be the difference between the two teams as UPW registered their maiden win of the season. A last-over finish followed by a comfortable win It feels like UP Warriorz's campaign is finally picking up pace. But for as fine as Henry's innings was on Saturday, and for as strong and dangerous that potentially makes UPW for the rest of the tournament, it nicely covered over the cracks that already exist, and neatly wrapped and ribboned a bigger concern. The answer lay in the last ball of the fifth over, when Deepti Sharma signalled towards her gloves to the umpire. The captain of the UP Warriorz wanted the umpire to note that she gloved the ball as it traveled to the boundary fence after it had swung down her leg. It was the first run she had scored in her 10-ball stay at the crease till then. Kiran Navgire's early blitz in the previous two games had hidden the fact that the rest of the top order batters were unable to take advantage of the powerplay. It demonstrated the limitations of the UP Warriorz's batting concerns at the top when even she struggled to generate significant hits on Saturday. Additionally, the ball had swung far down the legside without any fielding protection to cover those tickles, which is why Deepti was able to pick that boundary. They only managed to score 38 runs on the powerplay, 14 of which were scored in extra innings. Moreover, the pacers had strayed in their lines several times even as conditions were conducive for them, and a dropped catch by Minnu Mani had offered Navgire a lifeline on 7. In the absence of Alyssa Healy and the curious omission of Chamari Athapaththu, UPW are the only team in the competition that doesn't have an overseas player opening for them, let alone have any of them bat in the top-three like UPW. Quite curiously this season, they have held back their power-hitters for the latter stages of the innings. That their middle order, which includes Tahlia McGrath and Grace Harris, hasn't been able to fire has only worsened their woes. Even though they scored a big total and won easily, they still have batting issues without Henry.