WPL 2023: Mumbai Indians asserts bragging rights in top-of-the-table tie; thrashes Delhi Capitals by 8 wickets
WPL 2023: It was a one-sided encounter between Delhi Capitals and Mumbai Indians on Thursday, as the latter thrashed the former by eight wickets. Consequently, it has travelled to the top of the table, asserting its bragging rights.
FollowAll-round Mumbai Indians (MI) asserted their supremacy in the 2023 Women's Premier League (WPL) with an eight-wicket thrashing of Delhi Capitals (DC) in a top-of-the-table clash at Dr DY Patil Sports Academy in Navi Mumbai on Thursday. Saika Ishaque, Isabelle Wong and Hayley Matthews, who took three wickets apiece, led MI's charge with the ball to bundle out DC for a mere 105 in 18 overs.
With a tiny target to chase, Mumbai romped home to its third win in a row in 15 overs, with captain Harmanpreet Kaur (11*) and Nat Sciver-Brunt (23*) taking it past the finish line. Chasing 106, the opening pair of Yastika Bhatia (41) and Hayley Matthews (32) knocked off 47 runs in the PowerPlay (PP) and shared 65 runs for the first wicket to ensure a big win for their team.
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For Delhi, it was its first loss of the inaugural season. Yastika played her most effective innings in the tournament so far, with the hard-hitting Matthews also cashing in on the wrong deliveries. Yastika clobbered eight fours to record her highest score in the WPL, while Matthews, coming off a match-winning unbeaten 77, looked unhurried in her 31-ball stay with six fours.
After a watchful start, Matthews unleashed three consecutive fours off Shikha Pandey in the fourth over. Yastika joined in, smacking Marizanne Kapp for three fours in the next over to keep Mumbai in complete command of the proceedings. Tara Norris provided some respite for Delhi in the ninth over, pinning Yastika in front of the wickets with the batter, also exhausting a Decision Review System (DRS) appeal.
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And when it looked like the pair of Matthews and Nat Sciver-Brunt would take Mumbai to a second consecutive nine-wicket win, Delhi vice-captain Jemimah Rodrigues produced a brilliant athletic catch running in from long off to end the Caribbean batter's stay, off Jess Jonassen. The first meeting between arguably the two best teams in the WPL turned out to be a damp squib.
It was a day of collective failure with both bat and ball for the Meg Lanning-led Delhi. Lanning's 43 was the highest individual total of the innings, while her deputy Rodrigues scored 25. The uncapped Ishaque continued her stellar run in the tournament, while Wong and Matthews played a crucial role in bringing down the high-flying DC.
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Delhi, which had amassed totals above 200 in both matches, crumbled against disciplined and probing Mumbai bowlers with the bat in a high-pressure contest. Ishaque was once again the hero as the left-arm spinner accounted for Lanning, Shafali Verma (2) and Rodrigues to take her wicket tally to nine in three matches, the most in the tournament.
The only bright spot for Delhi was the 50-run stand for the fourth wicket between Lanning and Rodrigues, but once their resistance was broken, the Capitals slipped further, losing four wickets in nine balls for just three runs. To their credit, Mumbai bowled tight lines to prevent Delhi batters from getting away, with the batting side managing just six fours in the first ten overs and an overall nine fours and a six in its entire innings.
(With inputs from PTI)
