After a brilliant bowling display by the Delhi Capitals, their hitters, led by Niki Prasad, weathered some nervous moments to defeat the Mumbai Indians by a slim margin of two wickets in a thrilling final-ball match.
In the Women’s Premier League in Vadodara on Saturday, the Delhi Capitals bowled brilliantly before their hitters, headed by Niki Prasad, weathered some nervous moments to defeat the Mumbai Indians by a slim margin of two wickets in a last-ball thriller. DC decided to bowl and bowled MI out for 164 in 19.1 overs, with Harmanpreet Kaur’s explosive 42 off 22 balls and Nat Sciver-Brunt’s dominant unbeaten 80 serving as the innings’ mainstays. Shafali Verma’s scorching 43 off 18 balls in the chase gave DC a head start, as they reached 60 for no loss. But MI pulled off a spectacular comeback that nearly put an end to the pursuit.Sarah Bryce (21), Alice Capsey (16), and Annabel Sutherland (13), maintained DC in the chase until Niki Prasad (35) shown excellent calm under duress to lead them closer to the goal.
With four wickets remaining, No. 9 Radha Yadav (9 not out) needed 21 off the next 12 balls and smacked a six to cut the equation short. After that, Niki struck a four, but on the fifth ball, she holed out.
The victory was secured when Arundhati Reddy (2 not out) took the two necessary runs off the last ball.Shafali had earlier taken Hayley Matthews to task with two fours and a six after scoring 22 runs, including four fours and a six, in the second over off Saika Ishaque. In the fifth ball, though, she holed out.
When DC abruptly fell to 60 for 2, Shabnim Ismail cleaned up Meg Lanning in the fourth over. In the ninth over, DC collapsed to 76/4, with Jemimah Rodrigues (2) and Annabel Sutherland (13) following shortly after to the pavilion.
Shabnim Ismail (1/18), Hayley Matthews (2/32) Amelia Kerr (2/21) and Sciver-Brunt (1/38) were MI’s wicket-takers.Prior to this, Sciver-Brunt and Harmanpreet established a strong foundation with a vital 73-run stand off 40 balls for the third wicket. To remove MI in 19.1 overs, DC’s bowlers retaliated, taking the final six wickets for 35 runs.
Minnu Mani (1/23) was economical, but DC’s most effective bowler was pacer Shikha Pandey (2/14). Although the other bowlers were costly, they contributed by taking important wickets.
Pandey gave DC an early lead by removing both openers, Hayley Matthews (0) and Yastika Bhatia (11). Alice Capsey’s 19-run over (1/25) helped Mumbai reach 42/2 at the end of the powerplay.Harmanpreet and Sciver-Brunt took the lead, hitting 18 runs, including three fours and a six, off Radha Yadav’s seventh over. At the midway point, MI was 87/2.
Harmanpreet persisted in his assault, hitting three fours and a six against Annabel Sutherland (2/34) before succumbing to her in the fourteenth over.
As MI collapsed, Sciver-Brunt was left to continue the innings but ran out of partners.
