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Delhi Capitals (DC) defeated Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) in Match 11 of the Women’s Premier League (WPL) at the DY Patil Stadium in Navi Mumbai on Monday.
For the Capitals, pacer Shikha Pandey starred with the ball claiming figures of 3/23 while Jess Jonassen scored an unbeaten 29 off 15 balls, hitting four 4s and one six to help DC chase down the target with two balls to spare.
Other vital contributions for DC came from Alice Capsey (38 off 24), Jemimah Rodrigues (32 off 28) and Marizanne Kapp (32* off 32) who supported Jonassen to help them pull off the chase in a last-over thriller.
With this defeat, RCB has now lost their fifth game in a row and they continue to stay at the bottom of the points table with 0 points against their name.
While chasing a target of 151, DC lost their opener Shafali Verma off the second ball of the innings as she was cleaned up by a brilliant inswinger from pacer Megan Schutt.
Coming to bat at No.3, Capsey (38) then took the attack to the bowlers, hitting three fours off pacer Renuka Singh and Preeti Bose each. However, Bose had the last laugh as she dismissed her caught at deep mid-wicket in the same over. DC reached 52/2 at the end of the Powerplay.
With things slowing down a bit, Sobhana Asha provided the big breakthrough as she had Meg Lanning (15 off 18) caught at long off. Rodrigues and Kapp then steadied the ship with a 39-run stand off 35 balls. RCB needed a wicket at this moment and Asha answered the call as she had Rodrigues caught by the keeper off a top edge for 32.
Jonassen joined Kapp in the middle as RCB pulled things back a bit with the equation coming down to 24 off 18 balls. Kapp then broke the shackles as she pulled one powerfully over deep square leg for a six off all-rounder Ellyse Perry. DC though could get only 8 runs off that over from Perry and then Shreyanka Patil bowled another good over and gave away just seven.
It came down to just 9 required off the last over with Renuka with the ball in hand. She started off well, giving away two singles off the first two balls. However, Jonassen, who has been in good form with the bat in this tournament, finished the game off in style with a couple of powerful blows. She first smashed the third ball over deep mid-wicket for a six and then hit the next ball straight down the ground to complete the winning runs.
Earlier, winning the toss and electing to bowl first, Delhi Capitals made two changes to the side as Alice Capsey and Arundhati Reddy replaced Laura Harris and Minnu Mani. The Royal Challengers Bangalore made four changes as Disha Kasat, Megan Schutt, Asha Shobana, and Preeti Bose were named in the side.
Kapp, the star of the last game, started off well and bowled a maiden first over to Royal Challengers Bangalore captain Smriti Mandhana. Sophie Devine then got the first runs on the board with a four off the first ball of the second over of the innings by Alice Capsey. Devine and Mandhana then picked up a bit of momentum hitting three more fours.
Skipper Lanning then brought Pandey into the attack and she struck immediately in her first over, taking the big wicket of Mandhana, who has been struggling for form this season. It was a good powerplay for DC as they restricted RCB to 29/1.
The DC bowlers bowled tight overs to keep building the pressure, which finally paid off as Pandey came back to clean up the set Devine for 21 (19).
RCB reached 54/2 at the halfway stage of their inning. Pandey was in action once again as she took a brilliant catch to send back Heather Knight off the bowling of Tara Norris.
Perry and wicket-keeper batter Richa Ghosh then took a counter-attacking approach to help RCB recover from a steady start. The pair added 74 runs from just 34 balls. Perry brought up her fifty in style with a massive six off Norris. However, Pandey finally broke the stand as she had Ghosh caught behind for 37 (16) with the help of a successful review. Ghosh’s innings was laced with three fours and three sixes.
Meanwhile, Perry made sure that RCB reached the 150-mark as she remained unbeaten on 67 off 52, hitting five sixes and four 4s.
Jess Jonassen was named the Player of the Match for her match-winning 29 not out off 15 balls.
Brief Scores: Delhi Capitals 154/4 in 19.4 overs (Alice Capsey 38, Marizanne Kapp 32*, Jess Jonassen 29*; Sobhana Asha 2/27) beat Royal Challengers Bangalore 150/4 in 20 overs (Ellyse Perry 67*, Richa Ghosh 37; Shikha Pandey 3/23) by 6 wickets.
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