Clinical Delhi Capitals: Skipper Meg Lanning struck a half-century while left-arm spinners Jess Jonassen and Radha Yadav claimed three wickets each as Delhi Capitals scored their third successive win by defeating Gujarat Giants by 25 runs in Match 10 of the Women’s Premier League (WPL) on Sunday. Delhi Capitals thus moved to the top of the points table on a better Net Run Rate.Lanning blasted six boundaries and one six during her 41-ball 55 as last edition’s runner-up Delhi Capitals posted a modest 163/8 after being asked to bat first by Gujarat Giants. The bowlers then got into action with Jonassen and Radha Yadav, who bagged the Purple Cap, spinning a web to throttle the Gujarat Giants innings as Delhi Capitals won by 25 runs at the M. Chinnaswamy Stadium.
Jonassen claimed 3-22 and Radha Yadav bagged 3-20 in her four overs as Delhi Capitals restricted Gujarat Giants to 138/8 in 20 overs as they romped to their third win in a row. They now have six points from four matches, the same as defending champions Mumbai Indians, who also have six points but have an inferior 0-402 as against to 1.251 of Delhi Capitals. UP Warriorz and Royal Challengers Bangalore have four points each and occupy the third and fourth spots respectively in the five-team competition. Gujarat Titans are placed at the bottom with zero points as they have lost all their four matches so far this season.
Asked to bat first, skipper Meg Lanning held the Delhi Capitals innings together even though she lost fellow opener Shafali Verma, who had scored two fifties in four matches so far, in the third over. Shafali flicked a delivery onto her pads by Meghna Singh straight to Laura Wolvaardt for 13. Lanning and Alice Capsey added 38 runs for the second wicket before the latter fell to Meghna for a 17-ball 27 studded with five boundaries, slicing a full and wide delivery down the throat of Tanuja Kanwar.
Jamimah Rodrigues did not survive long while Annabel Sutherland hammered a 12-ball 20. A late assault by Shikha Pandey (14 off 8) helped Delhi Capitals reach a par score of 163/8 in 20 overs. Meghna was the best bowler for Gujarat Titans, claiming 4-37 while Ashleigh Gardner bagged 2-37 as they made a late comeback.
Chasing 164, Gujarat Giants lost Laura Wolvaardt to the third ball of the innings with not a run on the board when Shikha Pandey got one to sneak through the gap between bat and pad to rattle the stumps. It became 28/2 when skipper Beth Mooney was trapped LBW by Jonassen in the fifth over. Jonassen then sent back Phoebe Litchfield for 15 and Gujarat slumped to 34/3. They continued to lose wickets at regular intervals despite a fighting innings by Ashleigh Gardner who waged a lone battle in scoring a 31-ball 40. The going was slow and Gujarat were always chasing the game as they fell short by 25 runs despite putting up a good fight.
Brief scores:
Delhi Capitals 163/8 in 20 overs (Meg Lanning 55, Alice Capsey 27; Meghna Singh 4-37, Ashleigh Gardner 2-37) beat Gujarat Giants 138/8 in 20 overs (Ashleigh Gardner 40; Jess Jonassen 3-22, Radha Yadav 3-20) by 25 runs.
