Jemimah Rodrigues‘ 36-ball 58 and Alice Capsey’s 48 off 32 helped the Capitals post 181/5 despite a good finish with the ball from Patil. RCB’s overseas trio of Ellyse Perry, Sophie Molineux and Sophie Devine came up with useful contributions in the chase but the balance was still tilted towards the Capitals.
Jemimah Rodrigues heroics in the middle was matched equally by Richa Ghosh who tried to chase the score but faltered in the end only to end on the loosing side. Ghosh’s terrific knock brought it down to 2 off the final ball but she couldn’t take her team over the line, leaving RCB precariously placed on the points table.
Pitch and Toss
The pitch at the Arun Jaitley Stadium was the same used for the match between Mumbai Indians and Gujarat Giants where almost 400 runs were scored . It means with not a lot of grass it looks a good wicket for batting. So the team winning the toss will be eager to bat first.
Meg Lanning of Delhi Capitals won the toss and elected to bat first made only one change to the squad bringing in Marizanne Kapp for Annabel Sutherland.
Smriti Mandhana who would have also batted first if the toss was on her side made three changes to her side bringing in Disha Kasat, Shraddha Pokharkar and Shreyanka Patil for Ekta Bisht , Sabhineni Meghana and Simran Bahadur.
DC openers tee away before RCB spinners and Jemimah Rodrigues took over
After a quiet three overs to the Capitals start, Meg Lanning tore into Renuka Singh’s second over for four fours featuring three trademark Lanning cuts and square drives in a 20-run over also including three wides. But soon after Shafali Verma took off with a six and four off WPL debutant and left-arm quick Shradda Pokharkar, the spinners but the brakes on Capitals’ charge.
After Molineux bowled her first two overs for just 12, Asha Sobhana induced Shafali’s leading edge off a ripping leg break to dismiss her for 23, and Shreyanka Patil celebrated her return to the XI by trapping Lanning lbw after the powerplay for 29.
It was a powerful start from the Capitals thanks to their openers who struck seven fours and a six between them in the powerplay. RCB’s bowlers were actually tidy in the first three overs, with only 16 coming off them, which included two fours for Shafali Verma. The momentum-shifting over came in the fourth when Meg Lanning got into the action, striking four fours off Renuka Singh who gave away 20.
Despite Sophie Molineux bowling another quiet over, debutant Shradda Pokharkar, who was one of three inclusions in the eleven for RCB, ended up being hit for a six wide of long-off and then a loft over mid-off by Shafali as the Capitals moved to 53, with RCB losing a review during this carnage.
Jemimah Rodrigues sweeps RCB away a her quickfire 50 powers DC middle overs.
On a pitch that saw some turn and consistent lack of bounce, Jemimah Rodrigues and Alice Capsey, who swapped their positions at Nos. 3 and 4, took their turns to attack. While Capsey collected two fours down the ground off Patil, Jemimah Rodrigues took out her sweep. She first paddled a free hit off Pokharkar for four and then struck two fours out of the three off Molineux in the 13th over.
When Georgia Wareham pitched well outside off to negate the sweep, Jemimah Rodrigues exhibited glorious shots on the off side for consecutive fours, ending the 14th with a majestic inside-out six over the covers for a 26-ball fifty.
The opening partnership came to an end in the seventh over when Asha Sobhana accounted for Shafali in her first over, with the batter slicing a catch to point attempting a wild swing at the ball. Patil, who returned to the eleven, also picked up a wicket in her first over trapping Lanning in front, and a review failed to come to the aid of the Capitals skipper. The wickets, though, did not slow the Capitals down as Alice Capsey and Jemimah Rodrigues took over from the openers to sustain the pressure on RCB.
Asha was hit for two fours in her second over, same with Patil, as the Capitals reached 84 at the halfway stage of the innings. The 100 was brought up in the 13th over in which Jemimah Rodrigues hit three fours off Molineux, followed by two more fours as well as a six over cover off Georgia Wareham as she raced to a 26-ball fifty. DC were well placed at the end of 15 overs, having reached 130/2.
Shreyanka Patil returns for more brakes to restrict Delhi to 181 for 5 despite Jemimah Rodrigues heroics.
Shreyanka Patil stole the show by bowling two of the last three overs. She fired in deliveries to the set batters, and after only three singles in the first four balls of the 18th, she bowled Rodrigues for 58 in a four-run over. Capsey and Marizanne Kapp, fit and back in the XI, smoked the next over for 18 runs but Patil again frustrated Capitals with her speed and stifling lines that accounted for Capsey and Jonassen to concede just five in the over and finish with 4 for 26.
Asha kept it tight in the 15th over, conceding only 4, but the next couple of overs saw Capitals soar again, with Capsey striking three fours to help the team past 150 by the time the 17th was completed. Patil picked up the wicket of Rodrigues in the 18th, ending a 97-run third wicket stand, and gave away only four runs but Molineux proved expensive in the 19th, being hit for two fours by Capsey and a six by Marizanne Kapp.
Patil also ended Capsey’s stay in the final over, getting her bowled on 48. She also had Jess Jonassen out stumped and conceded only five runs. But the Capitals finished with 180-plus, with 47 coming in the last five overs despite Patil’s fine bowling performance.
The Ellyse Perry spice in RCB’s sedate start
With Sabhineni Meghana left out and Sophie Devine assigned the middle-order role, it was a new opening pair in the form of Smriti Mandhana and Molineux. Things looked promising with Molineux striking an elegant drive off Marizanne Kapp for a four and Mandhana playing a backfoot punch off Capsey for a boundary.
But the partnership was short-lived as the RCB captain missed a flick to be trapped in front by Capsey for 5. An economical over from Kapp followed, with RCB getting only 13 in the first three. Ellyse Perry provided the much-needed thrust to the chase as she started finding the boundaries and even pulled Jess Jonassen for a six, helping RCB to 42/1 at the end of the powerplay.
Mandhana fell early – to an offspinner for the third time in a row – before Perry pushed the run rate with swipes for a six and four off Jonassen and two fours off a Kapp over to lead them to 42 in the powerplay. The asking rate had crossed ten, but Perry continued to collect boundaries off Jonassen, while Molineux failed to catch up with the rate.
Despite getting a life on 48, Perry fell without facing another ball because she went for a non-existent single and fell short despite a full-length dive in the 11th over. Molineux holed out to Rodrigues at deep cover in the next over, and it brought together Devine and Ghosh. The duo took the chase deep and Ghosh nearly did it for her team but for one run.
DC hit back after Perry-Molineux stand
Molineux was struggling a bit compared to Perry, getting only 8 off her first 13 deliveries before pulling one off Arundhati Reddy for a four. Perry, meanwhile, ensured the required rate did not grow too big, hitting two successive fours off Jonassen to extend the partnership past fifty in the ninth over. Molineux finally upped the ante, scoring two fours off Titas Sadhu in her opening over to take RCB to 81/1 at the halfway stage.
DC missed their chances, with Shafali missing a direct hit to give Molineux a reprieve while Capsey put down a simple catch in Radha Yadav’s over to give Perry a lucky break. The second wicket association moved to 80 when Perry was run out one short of a half-century. RCB had another setback as Molineux fell to Arundhati on 33, slicing a catch to sweeper cover.
Taniya Bhatia couldn’t bring down the bails when Devine was short of the crease after being sent back by Ghosh. She capitalized on the miss, hitting two sixes and a four off Radha to take RCB to 125/3 after 15.
Richa Ghosh heroics in vain as DC won the thriller by 1 run to book a spot in playoffs.
Needing 57 off the last five overs, Ghosh took on Arundhati for a four and a six in the 16th. But a tight over from Shikha Pandey followed, with only five coming off it, and the pressure increased on RCB when Devine pulled a Kapp delivery straight to deep backward square leg. Wareham and Ghosh did well to ensure the over turned out productive for RCB, with both batters striking a four each.
With 28 needed off 12, Ghosh and Wareham hit a boundary each off Pandey but the Australia all-rounder fell in the same over to a low full toss, leaving RCB needing 17 off the last over.
Ghosh started the over with a straight six off Jonassen but the next was a dot, followed by the dismissal of Disha Kasat who was run out without facing a ball. It came down to 8 off 2 when Ghosh cleared the midwicket boundary for a six that took her to a 28-ball fifty and the equation to 2 off the last ball. But she could only hit the last ball to point and was caught short of the crease attempting a single as the Capitals clinched a thriller to move back to the top of the table.
Once Perry was run-out for 49 at the end of the 11th over, RCB needed a stiff 93 off 54 with an out-of-form Devine joining a scratchy Sophie Molineux. Molineux soon fell for 33 off 30 and Devine would have been run out too, had the wicketkeeper Taniya Bhatia not lost the ball before breaking the stumps. With 73 to get off 34 balls, Devine laid into Radha Yadav’s left-arm spin to muscle two sixes and a four in consecutive balls to make it 57 off 30.
Ghosh then went after Arundhati Reddy. The first ball off the 16th was tickled fine for four, and the last smacked all the way over the covers. Forty-five off 24 now with seven wickets in hand. The experienced Shikha Pandey brought Capitals back with a five-run over before Marizanne Kapp had Devine hole out to the longer square boundary for 26 off 16 to leave the onus on Ghosh’s shoulders.
Wareham collected two fours, and Ghosh unleashed an unbelievable half-bat-open scoop on the off side fine for four, but her last-over sixes and last-ball dive wasn’t enough.
Presentations and Road Ahead
Smriti Mandhana the RCBW captain on loosing said :
“Tough loss to take. The way we were batting, the way Richa was going, brilliant innings and Shreyanka last over was brilliant to watch. [on Shreyanka] She had a niggle, not that she was not dropped, a player of her quality there was no way of dropping. Really happy for her, especially the last over, showed a lot of character. [on having so many opening partners this season] Does not change the way I want to bat for sure,”
“Would have loved to play today and maybe better. Does not change my mindset. Last 10 years of international cricket, had a few partners. We have seen a lot of Richa in WPL and international cricket, Perry was going well, unfortunately she got run out,”
“The game could have gone anywhere in the last ball and good on Delhi as well to keep their nerve and win. One run does not make us a bad team. Good effort with the shorter boundary to restrict them to 180. We really believed that we could chase this down. Would tell the girls to keep their heads high and come back stronger the day after,”
Meg Lanning the winning DCW captain said :
“That’s way too stressful. Thankfully tonight we are on the right side. I’m a lot calmer on the outside than on the inside. Even the couple of ones we lost, did not nail the big moments but tonight we did and were happy with the win. We laid a really good platform, we felt the score at the halfway mark was good,”
“If we bowled well and took our chances, we knew we could win. Our bowlers did a great job. [on shuffling the batting order tonight] Conditions and matchups and that’s what we felt was best for the game. When you get set batters here, it’s tough to stop them,”
Jemimah Rodrigues Player of the Match for her fifty said :
“Good, we have two days to recover. We have played three last-ball games and it was such a blessing this went in our favor. Keep at it and stick at it during the timeouts. Taking it one ball and not thinking too much helped us. After losing against UP, I knew for some reason, this was going to help us. For next time when we were playing a semi or a big game, it was going to help us – learning from our mistakes,”
“The pitch tonight was slower and lower, yesterday also was the same pitch. I decided that even if I look ugly I had to get runs, getting player of the match is fine but today is a total team effort. Shikha bowled that 16th over against the two best hitters in the world, Capsey and me with that partnership. JJ with that last over, Meg as well, so a total team effort. [on Richa] I feel for her, although I’m happy we won,”
“This will help her for the future. I told her, this will help you – maybe she could hit the winning runs in the World Cup final and help us lift the trophy,”
The WPL dished out a scintillating thriller for the third night in a row to cap off a bumper weekend that saw a second team – Delhi Capitals – seal a knockout berth after Mumbai Indians did the same on Saturday night. Richa Ghosh, however, couldn’t replicate what Harmanpreet Kaur did for Mumbai because despite her belligerent 51 off 29, Royal Challengers Bangalore still fell short by just one run after she and Sophie Devine had reduced the required equation from 74 off 36 balls to 40 off 18, and then two off one with Ghosh on strike.
Capitals’ win means Gujarat Giants, at the bottom of the table, stay alive. Also, Capitals’ head-to-head against RCB stands at a dominating 4-0 from two seasons.
Capitals were ahead in the game after dismissing Smriti Mandhana early, Ellyse Perry in the middle overs and Devine for 26 that left RCB to get 40 from 17. With Georgia Wareham’s six-ball 12 for support, Ghosh continued to find boundaries to bring it down to 17 off the last over. Ghosh started that with a disdainful six over the bowler and farmed the strike to keep going for the big hits.
She belted another six on the fifth ball when RCB required eight from the last two, but couldn’t clear backward point on the last ball and failed to make her ground at the non-striker’s end despite a full-length dive. A dejected Ghosh lay flat on the ground with her head buried after the run-out as the Capitals fielders celebrated around her.
The result means Mumbai and Capitals are in the top two, RCB and UP Warriorz on third and fourth respectively with six points each, and Giants still in technically despite just one win from five games. The team that finishes third will claim the remaining knockout berth.