Skipper Meg Lanning and Jemimah Rodrigues smashed commanding fifties as Delhi Capitals thrashed Mumbai Indians by 29 runs in a top-of-the-table clash of the Women’s Premier League (WPL) here on Tuesday.
in to bat, Lanning fired at the top with a 38-ball 53, while Jemimah hit an entertaining 33-ball 69 to provide the late acceleration as DC racked up a massive 192 for 4 after the WPL juggernaut moved to the national capital amid lukewarm response.
Mumbai Indians’ chase nevertook off, ending up with a 163 for 8 despite Amanjot Kaur’s 42 off 27 and Hayley Matthews’ 29 off 17 as the defending champions crashed to their second defeat in five matches and only second against DC in WPL history.
This was Delhi’s fourth win on the trot as they moved two points clear of Mumbai with eight points from five matches.
DC thus consolidated their position at the top with the win which will act like a balm for the home team, which had suffered a heartbreaking last-ball loss to the MI in the tournament opener.
In contrast to the roaring success in the first leg, the first game of the Delhi leg saw a sparse crowd at the Arun Jaitley Stadium which build up as the match wore on but still couldn’t match the ‘crowd energy’ of Bengaluru.
The hosts, however, put on a show with their bowlers producing a clinical display while defending the total.
Returning after missing the last game, Marizanne Kapp once again did the damage in the powerplay, taking two wickets — Yastika Bhatia (6) and Harmanpreet Kaur (6), while fellow pacer Shikha Pandey cleaned up Nat Sciver-Brunt (5) to leave MI on shaky grounds.
Opener Matthews made a strokeful 17-ball 29 before being caught by Alice Capsey off left-arm spinner Jess Jonassen (3/21), while 19-year-old pacer Titas Sadhu removed Amelia Kerr (17) as MI lost half their side in 9th over.