3 key factors in Mumbai Indians reaching the WPL 2023 final

The Mumbai Indians (MI) have opened the inaugural Women's Premier League (WPL) season with a rather emphatic display of all-round cricketing ability.

The Harmanpreet Kaur-led team muscled their way to five consecutive wins, before a slight wobble saw them finish in second place in the points table. Making light work of the Eliminator, MI reached the WPL final as per early predictions.

Despite some weaknesses that became apparent later on in the league stage, MI held an edge in several aspects over the other franchises during the season. Here are the top three factors responsible for MI cruising to the WPL 2023 final.

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#3 Saika Ishaque's reliable bowling

Saika Ishaque struck at regular intervals to give MI's campaign a dream start.

Somewhat disappointingly, in WPL 2023, uncapped Indian talent has found it tough to force its way through and compete with international star power. One exception to this trend is left-arm spinner Saika Ishaque, who picked up a staggering 12 wickets from her first four WPL games and currently sits second on the Purple Cap leaderboard.

Hailing from Bengal, the 27-year-old has impressed with her pace and control, routinely trapping batters in front of the stumps. Among bowlers who have sent down more than 15 overs in the competition, Ishaque's strike rate of 12.33 is the best and her average of 14.40 is second best.

In both games that MI lost, Ishaque went wicketless - underscoring her importance to the team.

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#2 Middle-order contributions

Nat Sciver-Brunt has had a dream season with bat and ball thus far.

While Yastika Bhatia has played largely as an anchor at the top of the order, West Indies all-rounder Hayley Matthews has taken on a few more risks to provide MI with solid starts. However, the duo's steady contributions with the bat have been eclipsed by the more attacking approach taken by skipper Harmanpreet Kaur and English all-rounder Natalie Sciver-Brunt.

Kaur and Sciver-Brunt have scored their runs at a strike rate of over 140 and averaged above 40, rescuing their team from difficult situations. In addition, Amelia Kerr, Issy Wong and Pooja Vastrakar have chipped in with handy contributions wherever needed.

Consequently, the likes of Amanjot Kaur and Humaira Kazi lower down the batting order have had little to do on most occasions, given the quality of work done by the top and middle order.

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#1 Potent and experienced bowling combination

Issy Wong's hattrick was one of the top moments of the inaugural WPL.

While their batting has been strong throughout the season, MI have truly dominated with the ball.

None of Mumbai's five main bowlers - Sciver-Brunt, Ishaque, Matthews, Kerr and Wong - have conceded runs at an economy greater than seven runs an over. Their bowlers have also been lethal, with an astonishing four out of the top five wicket-takers in the tournament part of MI's ranks.

MI's best XI has a number of bowling options, including Harmanpreet herself, Amanjot, Vastrakar and Jintimani Kalita. However, given the performances put up by their main bowlers - spanning three different types of spin and two right-arm quicks - the Mumbai-based franchise has had no reason to worry about this department.