Kapp, Jonassen and Shafali shine as Capitals hand RCB first defeat of the season
Delhi Capitals 194 for five (Shafali 50, Capsey 46, Devine 2-23, de Klerk 2-35) beat Royal Challengers Bangalore 169 for 9 (Mandhana 74, Meghana 36, Jonassen 3-21, Kapp 2-35) by 25 runs
Shafali Verma and Alice Capsey carried on their good type with the bat to steer Delhi Capitals to victory and finish an unbeaten run in 2024 for Royal Challengers Bangalore.
Shafali scored her second half-century in as many matches and shared an 82-run stand for the second wicket with Capsey to assist Capitals to 194 for five as sixes rained down at Bengaluru’s M Chinnaswamy Stadium. A complete of 19 sixes have been scored within the match, equalling the document for ladies’s T20s. Shafali contributed 4 of them and three went to Smriti Mandhana in a extremely entertaining 74 off 43 balls which gave her facet hope of staging the very best profitable run chase within the competitors.
But Capitals had poured on 70 runs over the ultimate 5 overs of their innings, largely by means of an important 22-ball 48 stand between Jess Jonassen and Marizanne Kapp. The duo additionally shared 5 wickets between them and, in the long run, the duty was too nice for RCB, whose seek for a win over Capitals at this event continues.
Shafali and Capsey prepared the ground
Shafali lofted Renuka Singh again over the bowler’s head for a stunning 4 within the opening over of the match and, moments later, was put down at cowl by Shreyanka Patil. A six over deep midwicket off Sophie Devine adopted subsequent over, however it was Devine who made the primary breakthrough when Meg Lanning picked out Georgia Wareham at deep backward level off a brief, large ball. Ideally, she ought to have put that away, resulting in Devine not even celebrating as Lanning trudged again to the dugout for 11. Shafali lofted Sophie Molineux over long-on for a 78m six to take Capitals to 45 for 1 on the finish of the powerplay.
Capsey, who had scored 75 in a shedding trigger throughout the opening match against Mumbai Indians, took to legspinner Asha Sobhana with two fours in three balls, thumped over mid-on and reverse-swept with energy. Wareham entered the assault within the tenth over and was instantly dispatched over the fence at deep midwicket by Capsey, who took her partnership with Verma previous fifty two balls later with a reverse for 4. Wareham produced a beautiful piece of fielding to chop Shafali’s sure six to 2, leaping excessive into the air simply contained in the rope, plucking the ball from the sky and throwing it again into the outfield as she careered over the boundary.
Shafali introduced up her fifty with back-to-back sixes off Shreyanka, however she fell subsequent ball, making an attempt for a 3rd however managing solely to search out Wareham ready underneath it at deep midwicket.
De Klerk takes her probability
Called into the RCB facet to switch an ailing Ellyse Perry, Nadine de Klerk made essentially the most of her WPL debut, eradicating Jemimah Rodrigues earlier than she might pose a risk and claiming the prize wicket of Capsey for 46. It wasn’t all easy for the South Africa allrounder, although. She noticed Capsey muscle her first supply, a slower one exterior off-stump, over deep midwicket for six and will have had Capsey out for 41 however Devine spilled a simple probability at long-on.
She had Rodrigues out for a four-ball duck, extracting some additional bounce because the batter tried to clear mid-off and located Simran Bahadur ready there. But it was a pin-point yorker which clattered into Capsey’s stumps that supplied the spotlight for de Klerk. Her final over proved pricey as Kapp piled on two sixes and a 4, with Devine breaking the Kapp-Jonassen union within the penultimate over when Kapp miscued to Bahadur at long-off. Jonassen, who changed fellow Australian Annabel Sutherland within the Capitals’ line-up, struck 4 fours and two sixes en path to an unbeaten 36 off 16 balls, her six off the final ball, from Patil, taking her facet previous the formidable 190-mark.
Mandhana shines, relaxation disappoint
Mandhana started RCB’s pursuit in tremendous style, racing to 36 off 21 balls after 4 overs and dominating her partnership with Devine, who confronted simply three balls to that time. By the top of the powerplay, she had struck seven fours and two sixes for her 45 not out, taking RCB to 52 with out loss. Mandhana minimize Minnu Mani behind backward level and ran two to succeed in her maiden WPL fifty and that prompted Devine to instantly break the shackles that had seen her restricted to 9 off 12 balls. Devine superior down the pitch to pummel back-to-back sixes over long-on and deep midwicket, each measured at a staggering 87m. She fell within the subsequent over, nonetheless, top-edging a full toss from Arundhati Reddy to Jonassen at midwicket.
With RCB nonetheless scoring under the required run fee, it was all the time going to be a giant ask, regardless of Smriti accessing all areas of the bottom for her runs. She elegantly positioned Radha Yadav over cowl to the boundary to get them again on observe momentarily and her six off Kapp over deep midwicket to maneuver to 74 was elegant. But she was out on the very subsequent supply when Kapp took the tempo off a size ball and pegged again off stump as Mandhana swung early and missed, having confronted 43 balls.
Kapp claimed one other key wicket when she had Richa Ghosh caught by Jonassen to finish with 2 for 35 from her 4 overs. S Meghana was run out for 36 and Reddy had de Klerk caught cheaply subsequent ball with RCB needing 31 off eight balls. Jonassen, Australia’s loss of life bowler deluxe claimed three wickets within the ultimate over by which period, the consequence was past doubt.
Valkerie Baynes is a basic editor, girls’s cricket, at ESPNcricinfo