Delhi Capitals 194 for 5 (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 and Capsey lead the way
Shafali lofted Renuka Singh back over the bowler’s head for a lovely four in the opening over of the match and, moments later, was put down at cover by Shreyanka Patil. A six over deep midwicket off Sophie Devine followed next over, but it was Devine who made the first breakthrough when Meg Lanning picked out Georgia Wareham at deep backward point off a short, wide ball. Ideally, she should have put that away, leading to Devine not even celebrating as Lanning trudged back to the dugout for 11. Shafali lofted Sophie Molineux over long-on for a 78m six to take Capitals to 45 for 1 at the end of the powerplay.
Shafali brought up her fifty with back-to-back sixes off Shreyanka, but she fell next ball, trying for a third but managing only to find Wareham waiting under it at deep midwicket.
De Klerk takes her chance
Called into the RCB side to replace an ill Ellyse Perry, Nadine de Klerk made the most of her WPL debut, removing Jemimah Rodrigues before she could pose a threat and claiming the prize wicket of Capsey for 46. It wasn’t all smooth for the South Africa allrounder, though. She saw Capsey muscle her first delivery, a slower one outside off-stump, over deep midwicket for six and should have had Capsey out for 41 but Devine spilled a straightforward chance at long-on.
She had Rodrigues out for a four-ball duck, extracting some extra bounce as the batter tried to clear mid-off and found Simran Bahadur waiting there. But it was a pin-point yorker which clattered into Capsey’s stumps that provided the highlight for de Klerk. Her last over proved costly as Kapp piled on two sixes and a four, with Devine breaking the Kapp-Jonassen union in the penultimate over when Kapp miscued to Bahadur at long-off. Jonassen, who replaced fellow Australian Annabel Sutherland in the Capitals’ line-up, struck four fours and two sixes en route to an unbeaten 36 off 16 balls, her six off the last ball, from Patil, taking her side past the formidable 190-mark.
Mandhana shines, rest disappoint
Mandhana began RCB’s pursuit in fine fashion, racing to 36 off 21 balls after four overs and dominating her partnership with Devine, who faced just three balls to that point. By the end of the powerplay, she had struck seven fours and two sixes for her 45 not out, taking RCB to 52 without loss. Mandhana cut Minnu Mani behind backward point and ran two to reach her maiden WPL fifty and that prompted Devine to immediately break the shackles that had seen her restricted to nine off 12 balls. Devine advanced down the pitch to pummel back-to-back sixes over long-on and deep midwicket, both measured at a staggering 87m. She fell in the next over, however, top-edging a full toss from Arundhati Reddy to Jonassen at midwicket.
With RCB still scoring below the required run rate, it was always going to be a big ask, despite Smriti accessing all areas of the ground for her runs. She elegantly placed Radha Yadav over cover to the boundary to get them back on track momentarily and her six off Kapp over deep midwicket to move to 74 was sublime. But she was out on the very next delivery when Kapp took the pace off a length ball and pegged back off stump as Mandhana swung early and missed, having faced 43 balls.
Kapp claimed another key wicket when she had Richa Ghosh caught by Jonassen to end with 2 for 35 from her four overs. S Meghana was run out for 36 and Reddy had de Klerk caught cheaply next ball with RCB needing 31 off eight balls. Jonassen, Australia’s death bowler deluxe claimed three wickets in the final over by which time, the result was beyond doubt.
Valkerie Baynes is a general editor, women’s cricket, at ESPNcricinfo