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Delhi Capitals (DC) defeated Gujarat Giants (GG) in Match 9 of the Women’s Premier League (WPL) 2023 at the DY Patil Stadium in Navi Mumbai on Saturday.
Marizanne Kapp was impressive with the ball picking 5/15 from her four overs while Shafali Verma smashed a quick-fire 76 not out off 28 balls at an unbelievable strike rate of 271.42, hitting ten fours and five sixes.
DC has now got a big win after their loss against MI and is in the second position at the points table with three wins from four games.
All-rounder Kapp ran through the Giants’ batting order with some excellent swing bowling to pick up a five-wicket haul while pacer Shikha Pandey claimed three wickets to help DC restrict GG at a below-par score of 105/9 in 20 overs.
And then it was the Shafali Verma show with the bat as she smashed an unbeaten 76 off 28 balls to finish the chase off in 7.1 overs.
Chasing a 106-run target, DC got off to a flying start with opener Shafali smashing fours and sixes to complete her fifty off just 19 balls, scoring the second-fastest fifty of the tournament so far.
Interestingly, 48 out of those 50 runs came in boundaries (8 fours and 2 sixes). She then hit two consecutive sixes down the ground off left-arm spinner Tanuja Kanwar in the sixth over as DC completed 87/0 at the end of the powerplay, the most runs scored in the first six overs so far in the tournament.
At the other end, Shafali’s opening partner and captain Meg Lanning had the best seat in the house as she just watched Shafali smash fours and sixes for fun. The Shafali-Lanning pair complemented each other well with Lanning supporting Shafali to go all guns blazing.
19-year-old Shafali was unstoppable in her assault as she lofted pacer Mansi Joshi over covers for a six and then a couple of fours as the Capitals moved closer to their third win of the tournament.
Lanning finally joined Shafali and finished the match in style with a four off leg-spinner Georgia Wareham to help DC beat GG by 10 wickets with 77 balls to spare. The Capitals bounced back with a dominating performance after their disappointing loss against Mumbai Indians in the previous game which they lost by 8 wickets.
Earlier, winning the toss and electing to bat first, the Gujarat Giants made two changes in their line-up as Laura Wolvaardt and Georgia Wareham replaced Sophia Dunkley and Annabel Sutherland. On the other hand, DC made just one change as Laura Harris came in for Alice Capsey.
With the ball, Kapp was on fire immediately as she ran through the Giants’ top and middle order by displaying some excellent swing bowling. She cleaned up opener Sabbhineni Meghana for a duck with a cracking yorker on the second ball of the innings and gave just one run in the over.
In her second over, she struck once again by disturbing the furniture as she cleaned up Wolvaardt with another brilliant inswinger. On the very next ball, Kapp made it two in two by trapping the dangerous Ashleigh Gardner lbw with another lethal inswinger which was proving to be unplayable for the Giants’ batters.
Looking at the on-field umpire’s decision, Gardner went for the review but the replays showed that it was an umpire’s call with the ball just clipping the bails.
Meanwhile, a couple of fours were scored by Harleen Deol and Dayalan Hemalatha before Pandey removed Hemlatha (5 off 5 balls) caught behind with the help of a successful review after the on-field umpire was not impressed with the appeal.
Hemalatha fished a wide one outside the off-stump and nicked it but the umpire didn’t raise his finger. Skipper Lanning was totally convinced that Hemalatha had nicked it and straightaway went for the review with the Ultraedge showing a spike.
In-form Deol once again looked good in the middle with her 14-ball 20 but failed to carry on as she was trapped lbw with an off-cutter to become the fourth victim of Kapp.
Once again, the umpire wasn’t convinced and turned down a loud appeal from DC. Lanning took the review and was again spot-on as the replays showed all three reds with the ball hitting the middle and leg stump.
At the end of the powerplay, GG were struggling at 31/5 and needed someone to bat till the end to take them to a competitive total. However, Kapp was difficult to stop as she hit the timber again to dismiss wicket-keeper batter Sushma Verma for 2 to complete her five-for in the first seven overs of the match.
Kim Garth was the lone warrior for GG as she held strong at one end to stitch a couple of small partnerships. She first added a 33-run partnership off 33 balls with Wareham for the seventh wicket and then stitched a 28-run partnership off 37 balls with Kanwar for the eighth wicket.
Garth remained unbeaten on 32 off 37 balls, hitting three fours to help GG bat the entire allotted 20 overs and finish on 105/9.
For DC, Kapp was the stand-out performer with the ball, claiming figures of 5/15 while Pandey finished with 3/26 from her four overs.
Marizanne Kapp was awarded the Player of the Match for her brilliant figures of 5/15 from four overs.
After receiving the Player of the Match award, Kapp said, “I wanted to perform so badly for my team. Previous games, I felt that I was missing my lines and lengths. I think if you want to perform, you have to put in the hard work.
“I felt I let my team down in the first three games. That is what makes it so tough (being an all-rounder). Luckily, I didn’t bat today so I can be happy about my bowling (chuckles). It was absolutely amazing. We have such a nice group of players and it has been an amazing experience being here,” she added.
Brief Scores: Delhi Capitals 107/0 in 7.1 overs (Shafali Verma 76*, Meg Lanning 21*) beat Gujarat Giants 105/9 in 20 overs (Kim Garth 32*, Georgia Wareham 22; Marizanne Kapp 5/15, Shikha Pandey 3/26) by 10 wickets.
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