There was a pleasant embrace between Meg Lanning and Shabnim Ismail on the finish of the Girls’s Premier League (WPL) match in Bengaluru. When Mumbai Indians and Delhi Capitals met earlier within the season, within the battle of retired worldwide superstars it was the South African pacer who regarded sharper and dismissed the DC captain with a peach. However on Friday, Lanning stamped her class, taking down Ismail with an array of boundaries, together with a surprising on-drive, as DC went on to beat MI in a one-sided contest to go high of the desk. “I’ve performed quite a bit in opposition to her and she or he’s an amazing competitor I like developing in opposition to her. So yeah, it was good to get a pair away right now,” Lanning stated after the match. It was simply one of many many issues that went her approach.
The ‘win-toss-win-match’ development continued as MI had been requested to bat and by no means obtained going, managing simply 123/9. The run-chase was then damaged open early by Lanning and Shafali Verma – the WPL’s most prolific duo – as DC put collectively an ideal match to win with 33 balls to spare.
Whereas the chase gave the impression to be a formality, the sport was arrange by DC’s bowlers, led as soon as extra by veterans Shikha Pandey and Jess Jonassen. Whereas the Indian pacer was spectacular within the powerplay to forestall MI from getting off to a flier, Jonassen picked up the 2 wickets that mattered – that of the red-hot Nat Sciver-Brunt and captain Harmanpreet Kaur. It was additionally, arguably, one of the best fielding efficiency any workforce has put collectively on this 12 months’s WPL, headlined by a catch of the match contender by Annabel Sutherland, who ran in 28m from lengthy on to tug off a low diving catch to dismiss Amelia Kerr.
Watch the catch right here:
A #TATAWPL Traditional 🤩
Annabel Sutherland plucks one out of skinny air 😮
Is that this one of the best catch of the season but? 🤔
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— Girls’s Premier League (WPL) (@wplt20) February 28, 2025
“It was an unbelievable catch You realize We talk about as a workforce desirous to assault each ball that goes within the air and and try to get there. That was the epitome of that so I’m it was actually essential for us,” Lanning stated. “We wished to place all three aspects collectively. We’ve had patches the place we’ve performed properly to date however not the entire package deal. You wish to maintain bettering all through the match and we actually really feel like we’re doing that.”
Whereas there have been loads of good bowling performances on the night time, Lanning selected to focus on one specifically in her post-match chat. Over three years of WPL, the previous Aussie captain has usually used each attainable alternative to place the highlight on (even with out prompting generally) Indian home performers. And he or she gave a glowing assessment of Minnu Mani’s bowling, because the offspinner impressed along with her flight and tempo variations throughout her spell of three/15. “Particular shout out to Minnu, she she’s been bowling extraordinarily properly all through the match and picked up a few essential wickets for us as properly. She’s obtained some actually unbelievable expertise, she’s capable of flip the ball when she needs to after which some good variations as properly. It’s been an actual enchancment from from the entire of our workforce, however notably a few of our native home Indian gamers which has been nice to see.”
Whereas going high of the desk is necessary, DC would have wished to deal with their Internet Run Price earlier than the final section of this match, on condition that solely the first-placed workforce will get a direct entry to the title conflict. They usually did simply that, boosting their NRR from -0.223 to +0.201.
Temporary scores: Mumbai Indians-W 123/9 (Harmanpreet Kaur 22; Jess Jonassen 3/25) misplaced to Delhi Capitals-W 124/1 in 14.3 overs (Meg Lanning 60*, Shafali Verma 43) by 9 wickets
