Mumbai Indians women's team head coach Charlotte Edwards was all praise for the talismanic role played by their skipper Harmanpreet Kaur in the Women's Premier League (WPL) Final, at the Brabourne Stadium on Saturday.
MI had defeated Delhi Capitals by eight runs in a thrilling summit clash with Kaur slamming a timely half-century and marshalling her resources well to help them triumph in a repeat act of the 2023 WPL final.
"She's been really calm and she's deeply competitive. So she wanted to win another title, so she did everything in her power to do that. I've thoroughly enjoyed working with her. She's great around the group and the best among the young players. We work as a team and we play as a team and tonight was a real team performance,'' Edwards added.
With regard to Kaur's batting approach, Edwards felt the MI skipper knew exactly how to go about her business.
" No conversations over there. We talk about being aggressive and putting pressure on the bowlers and you know when she is out there she's the best in the world as we have seen there. She's trained really well and the great thing about our batting line up is that we don't simply rely on only one player. Hayley has been exceptional and Nat Sciver-Brunt has been absolutey amazing and to have that kind of experience really frees her up and it shows in the way she has played in the last week," she stated.
The MI coach felt the team was helped by the presence of three top all-rounders.
"First of all, great people to work with and the start of this whole MI journey. We went with five overseas all-rounders and we got three of them who are the absolute best. One of them won the Orange Cap and two of them have been neck to neck with the Purple Cap. They have been fundamental to our success in the last three seasons. They give so much to the group off the pitch and they bring out the best in our Indian domestic players as well. I'm just delighted for them all and they have played four games in six days which everyone needs to remember," Edwards said.
The Englishwoman felt Marizanne Kapp's wicket was critical to Mumbai Indians' victory.
"I felt Marizanne played brilliantly and she has won many finals herself, certainly two against me in The Hundred so I was a bit wary. But when Nat Sciver-Brunt has the ball in her hand anything can happen. It was a crucial wicket, wasn't it?..caught at deep mid-off and every team in this competition bat deep and we knew we were in for some tough couple of overs there. Thankfully, we managed to see it through," she concluded.