WPL 2024: Jemimah Rodrigues, Meg Lanning star as Delhi Capitals win top of table battle against Mumbai Indians
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It was a clash between the top two teams in the competition, who had squared off in the season opener as well, to mark the beginning of the Delhi leg of the Women’s Premier League on Tuesday. Mumbai Indians had eked out a last-ball win in Bengaluru but this time, Delhi Capitals left nothing to chance on home turf and bagged a 29-run win to pull away at the top of the points table.
Asked to bat first, DC posted a total of 192/4 thanks to skipper Meg Lanning’s 38-ball 53 and Jemimah Rodrigues’s unbeaten 69 off just 33 balls. In reply, the defending champions were always struggling and could only manage 163/8.
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Delhi were off to a quick start thanks to an impressive cameo by Shafali Verma. The 20-year-old, who got a reprieve as Saika Ishaque dropped a straightforward catch, hit a 12-ball 28 before edging one from Shabnim Ismail.
It then came down to Lanning and Jemimah’s exploits to power the DC innings. The former Australia captain continued her rich vein of form and kept finding boundaries to register her third half-century of the season. The 31-year-old may have retired from international cricket but showed yet again that her shot-making prowess remains world class.
Alice Capsey and Marizanne Kapp couldn’t get going and it was because of Jemimah’s all-round strokeplay that DC ended up with an imposing total. The 23-year-old took her time to settle in and got to 13 off 14 balls but switched gears in style to help her team add 69 runs in the last five overs. What stood out in her knock was the ease with which she hit both pace and spin for boundaries to either side of the pitch.
Mumbai’s chase never really took off as they lost four wickets inside the powerplay. Yastika Bhatia and Natalie Sciver-Brunt were cleaned up by Kapp and Shikha Pandey respectively, before skipper Harmanpreet Kaur, who had missed the last two games, closed her bat face too quickly and got a leading edge to backward point.
Once opener Hayley Matthews perished for a 17-ball 29, only Amanjot Kaur (42 off 27) and S Sajana (24* off 14) put up a bit of a fight down the order. Aussie left-arm spinner Jess Jonassen, with figures of 3/21, was the pick of the bowlers for Mumbai.
Delhi, with four wins in five games, find themselves in a promising position to advance from the league stage. They already have the same number of points that allowed UP Warriorz to earn a spot in the playoff match last season.
