The Delhi Capitals (DC) displaced the Mumbai Indians as table-toppers after clinching a 25-run win over Gujarat Giants (GG) in the Women’s Premier League (WPL) match no. 10 at the M Chinnaswamy Stadium on Sunday.
Chasing 164 runs for victory, GG found themselves in serious trouble from the word go, as Shikha Pandey removed Laura Wolvaardt for nought before Jess Jonassen removed the Australian duo of skipper Beth Mooney and Phoebe Litchfield for 12 and 15 runs, respectively to leave GG reeling at 41 for 3 after six overs.
The trouble mounted further when Veda Krishnamurthy, brought in for Harleen Deol, fell for 12 to become Radha Yadav’s first wicket of the evening.
At the halfway mark of the innings, GG required 92 runs and the task to win their first match this season fell on the shoulders of Ashleigh Gardener and Kathryn Bryce. But when the latter became Yadav’s second wicket of the evening, GG had lost half their side and were still far away from victory.
Gardener and Tanuja Kanwer put on 32 runs for the sixth wicket before the former fell stumped for 40 to leave GG on the brink, with 56 runs needed in the last five overs. But the DC bowling unit never let the pressure go down and eventually got the job done to register a third straight win in the tournament.
Earlier, a fine bowling performance by Meghana Singh, who took 4 for 37 in 4 overs, helped GG restrict DC to 163 for 8 in their 20 overs. DC opener Shafali Verma could not make the most of the early life given to her by Tanuja Kanwer on 10, as she fell soon after being caught by Laura Wolvaardt off Meghana Singh’s bowling.
Skipper Meg Lanning and in-form batter Alice Capsey took the score past 50 at the end of Powerplay, but Meghana struck again in the seventh over, as the latter fell for 27, caught by Kanwer at point to leave 58 for 2 after 7 overs.
Lanning and Jemimah Rodrigues-whose form had seen a trough after the tournament opener-then had the onus on them to rebuild the innings and took DC’s score to 75 runs after 10 overs.
The DC captain received a reprieve on 30 when she was dropped by Bryce. She made the GG bowlers pay for the error, reaching her half-century off 39 balls. But it was Meghana again, who came to GG’s rescue as she removed Lanning, caught at point by D Hemalatha for 55.
Rodrigues’ indifferent form in the tournament continued as she became Mannat Kashyap’s first wicket of the innings, caught by debutant Tarannaum Pathan for 7 to leave DC 111 for 4 in the 14th over.
GG’s fielders continued to let the bowlers down as Hemalatha dropped Jess Jonassen on 2 and also injured herself in the process, but like Verma she too could not make the most of the dropped chance, falling to Gardener for 11 to leave DC 139 for 5 after 16 overs.
Kanwer removed Sutherland in the 17th over for 20 as DC failed to get the final flourish, eventually setting a score of 164 runs for GG to claim their first win of the season.
Sayali Satghare becomes WPL’s first concussion sub
Sayali Satghare became WPL’s first concussion substitute, replacing D Hemalatha, who failed to grab hold of a catch at the square leg boundary and hurt herself in the process. The injury was severe enough to ensure Hemalatha did not take any further part in the second innings and Satghare became the first concussion sub in the league’s short history. Satghare walked in to bat at number 10 and made a run-a-ball 7.
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