From Tokyo to the WPL: Japan-Born Nat Sciver-Brunt Tops Mumbai Indians’ Retention List

Mumbai Indians named Nat Sciver-Brunt as their top retention for WPL 2026 ahead of Harmanpreet Kaur, rewarding her all-round impact and match-winning record.

Nat Sciver-Brunt Story (Image Source: Google)

The biggest and surprising news from the Mumbai Indians camp, during the formation of the team for WPL 2026, was that the all-rounder Nat Sciver-Brunt is their number 1 player in the retention list (Rs.3.50 crore), not the captain Harmanpreet Kaur. In spite of Harman being a sure shot captaincy prospect and delightful batter, the Mumbai Indians got her for Rs 1.80 crore per season initially. After 3 seasons, there was a chance to make amends but this time Harman sacrificed her number 1 contract for Sciver-Brunt, just for the sake of the team. She as a captain wanted Sciver-Brunt in her team, at any cost.

Sciver-Brunt’s status as one of the most sought-after franchise players in the world was confirmed when she secured the joint-highest price tag for an overseas player in the inaugural WPL auction. She became one of the highest-paid female athletes in the UK after being sold for about £320,000 (around Rs. 3.2 crore) to Mumbai Indians in the Women's Premier League auction in early 2023. That’s why, this time Harman ensured that while staying with Mumbai Indians, Sciver-Brunt gets a package better than the earlier deal. Sciver-Brunt has openly admitted that money was a factor in her decision to play for the Mumbai Indians in the WPL.

In WPL Sciver-Brunt’s record proves her to be one of the success stories of the event: 29 innings, 1027 runs with 80* top score @ 46.68 and SR 141.85 with 8 fifties and 32 wickets (best 3/18) @ 22.28 and ER 7.66. A genuine all-rounder, Sciver-Brunt's performance on the field has justified the investment and she has been a standout performer in the WPL:

*Became the first batter to score over 1000 runs in WPL.

*Won both the Most Valuable Player (MVP) award and the Orange Cap (most runs) in the 2025 WPL season, guiding Mumbai Indians to a win.

In 2025 Nat Sciver-Brunt became the first batter, man or woman, to surpass 1000 runs in The Hundred, in her 30th match.

She is in every women's Team of the year 2025. She took one of the hardest jobs in cricket, the England captaincy, that too picking up the pieces of the Ashes debacle. The World Cup after that was also not fruitful but she continued to be England’s best batter, always ready to bail them out of trouble.

Two strange facts, associated with Sciver-Brunt, commonly unknown:

*She was born in Tokyo so holds the distinction of first Japan born to play WPL. Nat Sciver, as she was then, went to school in Poland and the Netherlands before ending her education at Epsom College in Surrey. She learned cricket while growing up in the Netherlands but also played football and basketball, before moving to England to complete her education, where (thankfully!) She was introduced to cricket.

Having made her debut in 2013, she's grown from strength to strength. One of her finest moments on the field came in the 2017 ODI World Cup, where she notched up multiple batting records and played a big role in England winning the World Cup.

*Her mother Julia Longbottom is a diplomat. She is currently the UK's Ambassador to Japan. Nat was born in Tokyo in 1992, when Julia was there on an earlier posting.

Other notable achievements:

*In 2013, in a tri-series match against New Zealand in Bridgetown, became the first English cricketer, male or female, to take a hat-trick in a T20I.

* In 2014, on Test debut in Australia she fell one run short of a half-century.

* World Cup 2017: Scored two hundreds and then a fifty in the final.

* World Cup 2022: Again scored two hundreds including 148* in the title decider.

* Made her WBBL debut for Melbourne Stars in the inaugural season and was the first woman to hit a six in the competition.

* This year she replaced Heather Knight as England captain after England thrashing in the 2024 Ashes. Sciver-Brunt had said, ‘I will empower my players to be the best version of themselves,’ after being appointed as the new captain. A mainstay of the side since her debut, Sciver-Brunt was always the leading, perhaps only, candidate to step up after England’s disastrous Ashes tour last winter, both as vice-captain to Knight for the past three years.

*She is a mother (son: Theo) with wife and former team-mate Katherine. Nat and Katherine went public about their relationship, engagement and eventual marriage. In 2024 Nat had egg-freezing treatment, and they announced the birth of Theo, carried by Katherine, in April. She holds a unique record of missing an international match for having egg freezing treatment (First T20 against Pakistan in 2024). Egg freezing is the process of harvesting and freezing a woman's eggs so she can have children at a later date. ‘I'd like to carry a baby when I finish playing cricket, ‘she said.