We started on an expressway, endured a couple of speed bumps in between, but towards the end, drifted firmly back to doing what we were – steamrolling oppositions. The WPL title is two stations away. They say it’s the journey that is important, so here we are, looking back at our matches over the last one month:

Round 1 -- 

v Gujarat Giants: We recorded the largest victory by runs in this WPL as we handed a crushing 143-run defeat to Gujarat Giants in the tournament opener. Saika's scintillating 4-fer, Harman's 65-run blitzkrieg, Hayley's stroke-filled 47, Amelia's valuable 45* and two wickets sealed the deal for us.  

v Royal Challengers Bangalore: Harman v Smriti. It was going to be a blockbuster contest. It was Hayley who ended up being the show-stopper of the game. Her brilliance with the bat and ball gave us our second consecutive win - with a power-packed 77, which came off just 38 balls, and a 3/28, the opening batter and bowler was on a roll.

v Delhi Capitals: When you have Australia's captain in the opposition, you are automatically fired up. While our Kaptaan Kaur would have looked to settle quite a few scores against Lanning, the entire team joined forces and put their best foot forward. We bundled out Delhi Capitals for a paltry 105 and then completed the formalities in a jiffy with eight wickets in hand and five overs to spare. Saika and Issy's 3-fer and Yastika's elegant 41 saw us home. It was a hat-trick of wins for us! 

v UP Warriorz: From taking on one Australian after another, Harman was up to the task as she took on Alyssa Healy's UP Warriorz next. Chasing a competitive 160, we made light work of the total, taking just 17.3 overs to finish the game. Harman led the charge with an undefeated 53 and was helped by Nat's 45* and Yastika's 42. 

After a flawless run in Round 1 of the league stage, we were all charged up for Round 2. Four wins on the trot was a dream start.

Round 2 -- 

v Gujarat Giants: Picking up from where we had left in our previous outing against the Giants, our batters continued to feast on the Gujarat attack. Harman, with a fluent 51 and Yastika, with her gritty 44, powered us to 162/8 in 20 overs. Later, Hayley and Nat picked up three scalps apiece to mop things up. However, the Giants in this match broke our envious streak of getting teams all out. 5/5.

v UP Warriorz: We tasted defeat for the first time in the competition. After five straight wins, the law of averages hit us, and we went down to the Warriorz by five wickets. We did not have the best of days with bat or ball, but the silver lining was our fighting attitude as we dragged the game to the last over despite having just 127 runs to defend. Had we held on to our catches (three of them went down), you never know, we could’ve achieved 6/6 ..

v Delhi Capitals: It is often said in cricket – "One brings two". One loss brought us another. 109 runs on the board would never be enough for a strong DC batting lineup. A nine-wicket defeat with 11 overs to spare was heart-breaking, and damaging enough to our NRR, something that stopped us from topping the table and having a direct entry into the final.  

v Royal Challengers Bangalore: It was time for redemption—the last match of the league, and we obviously wanted to get the winning momentum back. The start was good for us as our skip won the toss for the first time in this WPL! Though a low-scoring affair, we had plenty of positives from the game. Our top performer of the day was our very own Mumbai-Kerr Amelia with 31* and 3/22.

So far, we have covered most bases. Let’s get it right another couple of times. Our payers are on, and fingers are crossed! Come on, Paltan, let's get behind our team.