Image Credit- BCCI
In 2024, Delhi Capitals ended Royal Challengers
Bangalore’s winning streak with a victory because to the bats of Shafali Verma
and Alice Capsey.
Sixes flew at Bengaluru’s M Chinnaswamy Stadium as Shafali hit her second
half-century in as many games and shared an 82-run partnership for the second
wicket with Capsey to lead the Capitals to 194 for 5. Nineteen sixes were
scored in the match, matching the women’s T20 record. Four of them came from
Shafali, and three were supplied by Smriti Mandhana, who scored an extremely
exciting 74 off 43 balls, giving her team a chance to stage the competition’s
most successful run chase.
However, the Capitals had scored 70 runs in their last
five overs, mostly because to a crucial 22-ball 48-run partnership between Jess
Jonassen and Marizanne Kapp. The pair also shared five wickets between them,
but ultimately RCB’s assignment proved too formidable as they continue to look
for victory over Capitals in this tournament.
In the first over of the match, Shafali lofted Renuka
Singh back over the bowler’s head for a beautiful four, but Shreyanka Patil
took him down at cover a few moments later. The next over saw Sophie Devine hit
a six over deep midwicket, but it was Devine who struck first when Meg Lanning
trapped Georgia Wareham at deep backward point with a short, wide ball.
Capsey, who had hit two fours in three deliveries off legspinner Asha Sobhana,
hammered over mid-on and reverse-swept with force after scoring 75 in a losing
cause against the Mumbai Indians in the first game. When Wareham came on the
attack in the tenth over, Capsey took her partnership and quickly got her over
the fence at deep midwicket. She also took her partnership with Verma past
fifty two balls later with a reverse for four.
Nadine de Klerk made the most of her WPL debut as she
was called into the RCB squad to replace an injured Ellyse Perry. She removed
Jemimah Rodrigues before she could pose a threat and took Capsey for 46.
However, things weren’t always easy for the South African all-round player. She
witnessed Capsey smash her opening delivery, a slower ball outside off-stump,
over deep midwicket for six. Devine dropped an easy chance at long-on, which
would have put Capsey out for 41.
After four overs, Mandhana took the RCB by storm,
reaching 36 off 21 balls and dominating her partnership with Devine, who had
faced just three balls up till that point. She had hit two sixes and seven
fours by the powerplay, bringing RCB to 52 without losing. She was 45 not out.
Mandhana broke the shackles that had kept her limited to nine off twelve balls
when she cut Minnu Mani behind backward point and sprinted two to clinch her
maiden WPL fifty. Devine came thundering down the pitch to smash consecutive
sixes over deep midwicket and long-on, both of which measured an incredible 87
metres. But she perished in the next over, top-edging Jonassen at midwicket
after a full toss from Arundhati Reddy.
It was always going to be a tall order, even though
Smriti used every inch of the pitch for her runs, as RCB was still scoring less
than the necessary run rate. They briefly got back on track when she skillfully
placed Radha Yadav over cover to the boundary. Her six off Kapp over deep
midwicket to reach 74 was outstanding. However, after facing 43 balls, Mandhana
swung early and missed, and Kapp snatched the pace off a length ball to put her
out on the very next delivery.
After getting Richa Ghosh caught by Jonassen, Kapp
claimed another crucial wicket, finishing with 2 for 35 in her four overs. S
With RCB requiring 31 off eight deliveries after Meghana was run out for 36,
Reddy had de Klerk caught cheaply on the next ball. Australia’s death bowling
extraordinaire, Jonassen, took three wickets in the last over, ensuring an
obvious outcome.