Similarities Between IPL 1st Game & WPL 1st Match
Five Similarities between IPL 1st game and WPL 1st Match: The first match of the Women’s Premier League (WPL) took place on 4th March. It was Mumbai Indians who won the match and it was a one-sided contest. The launch of the Women’s Premier League (WPL) is a significant moment in Indian Cricket history. The Indian Premier League (IPL) has played a very big role in the Indian cricket team (male) and it is expected that the Women’s Premier League will also have a similar impact on the Women’s game. In this article, we take a look at some of the similarities between the first match of IPL in 2008 and the first match of WPL in 2023.
1. Team Batting First recorded a Huge Win by 140 or More Runs in Both IPL And WPL’s inaugural Match.
The scorecards of the first matches of IPL and WPL look pretty similar. In the first match of the 1st edition of the Indian Premier League, Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) scored 222/3 in 20 overs. KKR then bowled out the entire team of Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) for 82 runs and went on to win the first match by 140 runs.
In the opening match of the Women’s Premier League (WPL), Mumbai Indians scored 207/5 in 20 overs. Gujarat Giants were bowled out for 64 runs and lost by 143 runs. The margin of victory for the victorious side in both cricket matches is surprisingly the same.
2. One Opener Batsman of the Winning Team Had a Strike Rate of Less Than 100
Both Mumbai Indians (Women) and Kolkata Knight Riders both scored 200+ runs in the first innings of the 1st edition of the Women’s Premier League and Indian Premier League respectively. However, one of his opening batsmen couldn’t score enough runs for their team.
For Kolkata Knight Riders, Captain Sourav Ganguly walked into the dressing room after scoring 10 runs in 12 balls. For Mumbai Indians (women), Wicketkeeper Yastika Bhatia walked into the dressing room after scoring just one run in eight balls. So, while both the teams managed to score 200+ runs, they also had an opener who scored very less runs for their team.
3. The Losing Captain Won The Toss And Choose To Field
Gujarat Giants (Women) won the toss and choose to field first against Mumbai Indians (Women) in the 1st match of WPL. This decision didn’t go in favor of the Gujarat Giants and they lost the match.
Similarly, Royal Challengers Bangalore won the toss and opts to field in the first match of IPL 2008 against Kolkata Knight Riders. Brendon McCullum’s historic 158* put a dent in RCB’s plans in that first match.
Also Read: List of Women Premier League Teams And Owners | WPL 2023
4. The Start Time of The Matches Was The Same
The first match of the 1st edition of IPL between Kolkata Knight Riders and Royal Challengers Bangalore was started at 8:00 PM IST on 18th April 2008. Primarily, the first WPL match between Mumbai Indians and Gujarat Giants was scheduled to start at 7:30 PM IST on 4th March 2023.
However, the WPL’s organizers pushed the start time back to 8:00 PM IST, a few hours before the start of the match. Therefore, the toss for the first match and the start time of the match, in both WPL’s and IPL’s first edition is the same.
5. The Losing Team’s Total Score Was Less Than The Winning Team’s Highest Run-Scorers Score
Harmanpreet Kaur scored the highest 65 runs for the Mumbai Indians team. Gujarat Giants team failed to match Harmanpreet Kaur’s score and the entire team was all out for 64 runs. Similarly, in the first match of the Indian Premier League, RCB’s entire team was all out for 82 runs.
Brendon McCullum’s memorable innings of 158* runs were quite enough for KKR to win the first match of the 1st IPL edition as the score of this batsman was almost double the entire score of Royal Challengers Bangalore. It is pretty unbelievable that in both matches the top scorer for the winning team managed to score more runs than the entire score of the opponent team.