5 similarities between IPL's 1st game and WPL's 1st match

WPL 2023 got underway on Saturday, March 4, with a match between the Gujarat Giants and the Mumbai Indians. The cricket universe hoped for a thrilling clash to kick off the new T20 league at the Dr. DY Patil Sports Academy. However, it did not materialize.

Mumbai Indians blew away the Gujarat Giants by a whopping margin of 143 runs. After being asked to bat first, MI posted a mammoth 207 from their 20 overs.

Chasing 208, Gujarat lost wickets in a flurry and managed only 64 runs. To make things worse for the Giants, their skipper Beth Mooney got injured and limped off the field during the innings.

In many ways, the opening game of the Women's Premier League was similar to the first-ever IPL match, between the Kolkata Knight Riders and Royal Challengers Bangalore, played in 2008.

In this listicle, we will look at five similarities between IPL's very first game and WPL's first-ever match.

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#1 Team batting 1st recorded a win by 140 or more runs in both IPL and WPL's opening games

The scorecards of the IPL and WPL's first matches look quite similar. In the first match of the IPL's first edition, Kolkata Knight Riders scored 222/3 in 20 overs. KKR then bowled out Royal Challengers Bangalore for 82 and won the contest by 140 runs.

In the Women's Premier League's opening match, Mumbai Indians posted 207/5 on the board in 20 overs. Gujarat Giants got skittled out for 64 runs and lost by 143 runs. The margin of win for the victorious sides in both matches is uncannily similar.

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#2 One Opener of winning side had a strike rate of less than 100

Both Mumbai Indians Women and Kolkata Knight Riders managed 200+ totals in the first innings of the WPL and the IPL's maiden season, respectively. However, one of their openers failed to get going.

For KKR, skipper Sourav Ganguly lost his wicket after scoring 10 runs off 12 balls. For MI, wicketkeeper Yastika Bhatia departed to the dressing room after managing just one run from eight deliveries. So, while both teams managed to post a 200+ total, they also had an opener who scored at less than run-a-ball.

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#3 Losing captain won the toss and opted to field first

Gujarat Giants Women won the toss and opted to field first in the season opener against the Mumbai Indians Women. The decision clearly did not work out in the Giants' favor.

Similarly, Royal Challengers Bangalore had won the toss and elected to bowl first in the IPL 2008 opener against Kolkata Knight Riders. Brendon McCullum's memorable 158* had scuppered the plans of RCB in that contest.

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#4 Start time of the matches

The Indian Premier League match between Kolkata Knight Riders and Royal Challengers Bangalore started at 8:00 PM IST on April 18, 2008. Initially, the WPL game between the Mumbai Indians and Gujarat Giants was supposed to start at 7:30 PM IST on March 4, 2023.

However, the organizers pushed the start time back to 8:00 PM IST just a few hours before the match. So, the toss for the first match and the start of the contest, in both IPL and WPL's first season, is the same.

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#5 Losing team's total was less than winning team's top-run getter's score

Harmanpreet Kaur top-scored for the Mumbai Indians with a 65-run knock. Gujarat Giants failed to match Kaur's score and got all out for 64.

Similarly, RCB were all out for 82 runs in the first match of IPL. Brendon McCullum's memorable unbeaten 158 was nearly double that score.

It is quite incredible that in both matches, the top-scorer for the winning team managed to get more runs than the entire opposition. Another striking similarity!