Nat Sciver-Brunt says money played important role in deciding to play for Mumbai Indians over England

The Tata Women’s Premier League (WPL) 2024 is set to commence on February 23, Friday and will conclude on March 17. England all-rounder Nat Sciver-Brunt, who will represent Mumbai Indians in the WPL, revealed that money played a huge part in her decision to choose between England’s tour of New Zealand or representing MI in the Tata WPL.

Nat Sciver-Brunt decided to play for the Mumbai Indians and will miss the first three T20Is against New Zealand. The white-ball leg of England’s tour of New Zealand will start on February 19.

Mumbai Indians are the defending champions of the WPL and it was Nat Sciver-Brunt who scored the winning runs of MI in the finals against Delhi Capitals women last year in the inaugural season.

Nat Sciver-Brunt scored 60 off 55 in the finals against Delhi Capitals last year and was the Player of the Match in the finals. She was the second-highest run-getter in the tournament scoring 332 runs in 10 innings at an enormous average of 66.40 which included three half-centuries.

While speaking on the ESPNcricinfo podcast, Nat Sciver-Brunt revealed the fact that she went for 3.2 crores in the inaugural season itself played a huge factor in deciding to play for MI and missing the first three games for her country. She also said that she wishes that this weigh-up of club versus country does not happen again as players get in a huge dilemma because of choosing one between national duty or club requirements

“Yeah, I mean, I would be lying if I said no. Having obviously gone for that much in the first year, yeah, it certainly came into consideration. Hopefully, this weigh-up of club versus country won’t happen again. I know we’ve seen it happen with the men’s side of things and continued to happen for quite a while, and still will. Hopefully, these clashes don’t happen in the future, which I guess will keep the importance of international cricket and keep that focus for everyone,” Sciver-Brunt told ESPNcricinfo’s Powerplay podcast.

Nat Sciver-Brunt was recently awarded ICC Women’s Player of the Year 2023

Nat-Sciver Brunt is the ICC Women’s Player of the Year 2023 and this was her second consecutive award for the Player of the Year. She has been in extraordinary form and Mumbai Indians will hope that she continues her form in the upcoming Tata Women’s Premier League 2024.

Mumbai Indians will open their campaign against Delhi Capitals in a repeat of the finals of Tata WPL 2023. The match will be played at the M. Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bengaluru. Nat Sciver-Brunt will join the England squad after the first three T20Is.

Tata WPL was introduced last year and gained a lot of popularity in the first season. There are five teams currently on the league’s roster and they are Delhi Capitals Women, Mumbai Indians Women, Royal Challengers Bangalore Women, UP Warriorz, and Gujarat Giants. The matches will be played in a double round-robin league format and the top three teams will qualify for the playoffs with the table toppers directly qualifying for the finals. The No.2 and No.3 teams play an eliminator round and the winner gets to play in the finals.