“I don’t really know (how she’s been consistent). I ride the highs whilst I can, and I’m pretty sure there’s some lows around the corner, but that’s cricket, isn’t it? On any given day, you could get some runs or not,” Nat Sciver-Brunt said after the Women’s Premier League (WPL) 2025 final.
While the English all-rounder might not know the secret behind her consistency, she must have done something right to run away with the Orange Cap and the ‘Most Valuable Player’ of the season award, apart from helping Mumbai Indians lift its second WPL title.
“Nat’s commitment; her partner’s expecting and despite that to come here and dominate like she did in the WPL is special for me,” said MI’s mentor and bowling coach Jhulan Goswami.
While Sciver-Brunt chipped in with 12 wickets this season – including two crucial scalps in the final – it’s her performance with the bat that has stood out.
She ended the 2025 edition with 523 runs, becoming the first player to accumulate more than 500 runs in a single season. Moreover, she also became the first to cross 1000 runs in the WPL.
Sportstar breaks down Sciver-Brunt’s season with the bat and what set her apart from the rest:
Treading carefully
A look at the stats of the top 10 batters in this year’s Orange Cap standings – which includes Ellyse Perry, Hayley Matthews, Shafali Verma, Harmanpreet Kaur, Meg Lanning, Ashleigh Gardner, Beth Mooney, Harleen Deol, and Richa Ghosh – reveals that Sciver-Brunt didn’t bat recklessly.
With the lowest false shot percentage (11.5) amongst this group, the England international trode carefully throughout her 10 innings, helping her notch up scores of 80*, 57, 42, 75*, 18, 37, 38, 69, 77, 30.
One area in which the 32-year-old has improved this season is her record against pace. Over the last two seasons, she preferred to attack the spinners more than fast bowlers. However, this year has seen her mete out equal treatment to pace (273 runs in 188 balls) and spin (250 runs in 155 balls).
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Moreover, she also had the second-lowest dot ball percentage (30), just behind Perry’s 29.6 in the top 10 list, highlighting Sciver-Brunt’s penchant for always looking for runs, either through running between the wickets or finding the boundary.
Dealing in 1s and 4s
Of all the batters who took to the crease across the five franchises, Sciver-Brunt holds the unique distinction of scoring in extremes.
She took the most number of singles (141) and smacked the highest number of fours (84). Next in line in these two parameters are Perry (105 singles) and Lanning (45 fours).
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During her only two unbeaten knocks in WPL 2025, Sciver-Brunt ran 26 singles and sent the ball to the boundary 13 times against Capitals (February 15), while she took 21 singles and scored 13 fours against UP Warriorz (Feb 26).
Through the leg side
Over the three WPL seasons, the MI all-rounder’s favourite part of the field to score in has been the leg-side. This year too she has stuck to collecting runs through the on-side despite masterfully sending fielders on a leather hunt all throughout the ground.
As many as 347 of her 523 runs have come on the leg-side. Even in the previous two editions, Sciver-Brunt had scored more than 70 per cent of her runs in this region.
The 2017 World Cup winner might have invented the ‘Natmeg’ shot – a cheeky flick between the legs through backward square-leg – during that tournament, but a deeper look reveals that 235 of these 347 runs on the leg-side were scored between mid-on and forward square-leg this WPL.
Nat Sciver-Brunt of Mumbai Indians in action.
| Photo Credit:
GETTY IMAGES
Nat Sciver-Brunt of Mumbai Indians in action.
| Photo Credit:
GETTY IMAGES
And when depositing the ball in these areas, Sciver-Brunt loves to either drive or unleash the pull. This past season, she scored 145 and 115 runs through them, respectively.
After a sparkling season in the WPL, Sciver-Brunt would certainly hope to ride these highs as much as she can with a couple of home series against West Indies and India in the near future, and an ODI World Cup on the horizon.
