The city-based Saika Ishaque (3/33) shone once again with the ball while captain Harmanpreet Kaur hit an unbeaten 53 as table-toppers Mumbai Indians whipped UP Warriorz by eight wickets in Sunday’s Women’s Premier League game at the Brabourne Stadium in Mumbai.

Left-arm spinner Ishaque, who now has 12 wickets in four matches, struck in crucial times to apply the brakes on the Warriorz’s progress and limit them to 159/6 after they won the toss and opted to bat first. Thereafter, Harmanpreet combined with Nat Sciver-Brunt (45 not out) for her solid, breezy knock as the duo’s unbroken 106-run third-wicket partnership took Mumbai home with 15 balls to spare.

Harmanpreet started slowly, scoring only nine off the first 15 balls she faced. But with Sciver-Brunt looking assured at the other end, the India limited-overs skipper could afford to unleash the strokes to bring the required run rate well in control.

Harmanpreet’s 33-ball knock comprised nine fours and a six, while Sciver-Brunt got her runs hitting six boundaries and a maximum. For Mumbai, this was their fourth win on the trot as with eight points now, they have extended their lead at the top.

Earlier, courtesy their inform captain Alyssa Healy (58) and Tahlia McGrath (50), t h e Wa r r i o r z were well placed at 140/2 in the 17th over. Ishaque, who had earlier struck in her first over by trapping Devika Vaidya lbw, dismissed both Healy and McGrath in three balls in that 17th over to snatch the momentum away from the Warriorz.

Following the duo’s departure, the Warriorz then managed only 18 in the remaining 19 balls of their innings. Trusting her game, which is to bowl stump to stump, the 27-year-old Ishaque delivered just when her team needed her to.

Spotlight on Mandhana

Calcutta: Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) have had a torrid time in the inaugural Women’s IPL. For that, their captain Smriti Mandhana’s disappointing showing is largely responsible.

So far in the competition, the RCB captain has aggregated only 80 runs, something that hasn’t at all helped her team when it comes to their batting in particular.

With RCB losing all their first four games, it’s time for the under-pressure Mandhana to sort things out and deliver against a buoyant Delhi Capitals at the DY Patil Stadium in Navi Mumbai on Monday. The task won’t be easy at all as the Capitals have fared much better with both bat and ball, barring their lone defeat to Mumbai Indians.

OUR BUREAU

Today’s matches

■ DC Women vs RCB Women, 7.30pm, Navi Mumbai. Live on Sports18 1