New Delhi, Jan 22 (IANS) Defending champions Mumbai Indians’ struggles in the batting power-play of the 2026 Women’s Premier League (WPL) stem from a critical lack of stability at the top of the batting order, said former India men’s wicketkeeper-batter Saba Karim.

The two-time champions have suffered four defeats in six matches – something which is a first for the franchise. Their batting powerplay run rate of 6.05 is the weakest for a team in the competition, with none of their five openers – Hayley Matthews, G Kamalini, Amelia Kerr, Amanjot Kaur and Sajeevan Sajana – managing to cross 40 in any innings of this season.

What has also not helped MI is their regular opener Hayley not having any game time behind her after undergoing shoulder surgery and a quad niggle, as well as Kamalini being ruled out of the competition due to a shoulder strain.

“That’s the biggest reason why MI are struggling at this stage, there is a lack of stability right at the top. If you go through Mumbai Indians’ performances in the last two-three seasons, the reason why they have done well is that they have had a lot of stability right at the top, especially with Hayley Matthews coming in good as an opener.

“But this season, one, because of her injury, she was introduced quite late in the season and they missed out with her experience. Even when she has come in, I think she’s still struggling with form due to lack of match practice and one can see it on that front. So then all the heavy lifting has to be done by Nat Sciver-Brunt and Harmanpreet Kaur,” Karim told IANS in the WPL 2026 media may organised by JioStar.

The openers not giving desired results has meant that a lot of heavy lifting with the bat has been done by Nat (136 runs) and Harmanpreet (166 runs), who have so far managed to keep MI’s campaign alive. “Somehow, although they have tried their best, I think both these batters have produced some decent performances. But then even after that, you have after Harmanpreet, Amanjot Kaur, who has done well at the top of the order, but hasn’t contributed so much lower down the order.

“So I think the batting has really curtailed MI’s performance this season. If you look at the number of runs that they have scored so far, they’ve hardly surpassed 160-170 or 175. I think the kind of wicket, especially that we have seen this time around at the DY Patil Stadium, you need to get to at least 190-200 on a regular basis. I think their inability to do so has hurt them quite a lot,” added Karim, a former India selector.

Meanwhile, UP Warriorz have emerged from a three-match losing streak to register consecutive victories, though they are yet to nail a settled batting order. Karim expressed confidence in skipper Meg Lanning’s to settle on the right combination in time for them to make a serious push towards entering the playoffs.

“Well, I do trust Meg Lanning to find the right kind of solution. She has taken some time to understand her players. But now I think she’s in a very strong position to figure out who comes when. In any case, in the T20 format, the batting order remains very fluid, except your top three.

I want to believe that if you have a very stable top three, then there are more chances of that team succeeding. More so because the top three generally gets to bat in the power play. Yes, you’re right that Meg Lanning and UP Warriorz have taken some time.

But the reason why they picked Meg Lanning as a captain is because UP Warriorz, as a management side, felt that she can really lead them quite well, not only with her batting skills, but also with her captaincy skills.

“Now I think slowly one can see that transpiring for UP Warriorz. So I’m quite confident that now they’re left with, what, three or four games and they’ll be able to perform much better. I feel that they do have a strong chance of qualifying (for the playoffs),” he explained.

With Royal Challengers Bengaluru already qualifying for the playoffs, the likes of MI, UPW, Delhi Capitals and Gujarat Giants are tied on four points each, making this potentially the most competitive race to the playoffs in WPL history.

“I can see that and I think that’s been the best part about WPL. I think the kind of maturity that we have seen in WPL, we see all the sides more and more fighting for a place in the top three. So I think now we are in the business end of the tournament and yet only one team has qualified. So there are chances open for the other teams to still make a race for the qualification spots.”

“So yes, I think this season WPL has enthralled the audience in so many ways. It’s been an explosive season so far. The number of runs scored has been much higher than the previous season. The strike rate has gone up and we have seen many more thrillers.”

“I think all that has happened because after three years, we had this kind of a (mega) auction. I think we have seen some fresh faces – teams have rebuilt their 11 or 15. So that is why we have seen so much happening this time around in WPL. It has turned out to be arguably one of the most competitive seasons so far,” concluded Karim.

–IANS

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