Delhi Caps get to the final | Thanks to Shafali Verma
Meg Lanning’s squad plays the league’s underachievers with a very professional show as they go into their title match.
Five sixes, seven fours, and a confident performance all around. In the Women’s Premier League (WPL) final league match on Wednesday, Shafali Verma‘s aggressiveness at the bat, which saw her team win by seven wickets after hitting a 37-ball 71, was the epitome of Delhi Capitals’ dominance over Gujarat Giants. They managed to chase down 126 with nearly seven overs remaining.
Meg Lanning, the captain, may have reclaimed her title as the tournament’s top scorer, but Shafali took charge at the bat to completely destroy Gujarat’s feeble bowling attack following her early run-out and Alice Capsey’s wicket, which caused a little trembling.
The 20-year-old leadoff hitter demonstrated that she is not just a dominant striker at the top but also has the ability to manage the tempo of her innings and see a run chase through to completion. She successfully rotated her strike and pounded the balls in the V. Despite having the highest pedigree among the bowlers in Gujarat, Shafali ripped past her with three sixes and a four.
Delhi’s victory advances them directly to the championship game, where they will play as home favorites against the Mumbai Indians and Royal Challengers Bangalore.
This match pitted a team almost certain to advance directly to the championship against a squad almost certain to finish last. And it was evident.
Lanning made excellent decisions as captain, manipulating her bowlers to keep the Giants hitters off balance. On the pitch, the team’s precision was apparent as they gave up very little.
The Gujarat Giants disappointed by showing up in a lot of games throughout the league’s two seasons; they were clumsy, inexperienced, and wasteful. It has just not worked out for them to place such large bets on a group of elite international players.
The team crumbled after Beth Mooney left early due to a marizanne Kapp ripper. The money invested on Gardner and Phoebe Litchfield, who recently returned from Australia’s tour of India with a high score, did not yield sufficient returns. Gardner’s tournament total increased to 120 with a score of 12. This past two weeks, Litchfield scored 21 of her 108 runs. In each of the eight games, neither has made a major impact.
Bharti Fulmali produced a late flourish, but her 36-ball 42 would be completely in nothing, as her side could only creep to 126/9 having being knocked to 48/5 in the first part of their innings.
Brief scores: Delhi Capitals 129/3 in 13.1 overs (Shafali Verma 71; Tanuja Kanwar 2/20) defeated Gujarat Giants 126/9 in 20 overs (Bharti Fulmali 42; Minnu Mani 2/9) by seven wickets.
After choosing to bat, Beth Mooney was dismissed for a five-ball duck by Marizanne Kapp. After Jess Jonassen struck D. Hemalatha’s off stump, Kapp repeated her pattern of taking two wickets in the PowerPlay when Laura Wolvaardt holed out to Shafali Verma.
Despite having a terrible season by their high standards, Ashleigh Gardner and Phoebe Litchfield had strong beginnings before losing their way to Minnu Mani and Shikha Pandey, respectively. The squad reached a decent but unimpressive 126/9 because to the resistance of Bharti Fulmali and Kathryn Bryce, who put together a 68-run partnership in 50 balls.
Meg Lanning and Shafali Verma responded by scoring a rapid 31 runs in the first three overs. The openers are giving Shabnam Shakil a harsh taste of good batting, therefore she will have to wait until next season to give it another go. Shabnam Shakil has included this pair in her list of fantasy wickets.
Shafali dealt in boundaries as Jemimah Rodrigues supported her on the other end. Lanning, who took over the orange cap from Deepti Sharma after surpassing the 300-run mark in her second season on the trot, and Alice Capsey fell short quickly.
In an attempt to complete the game with a glory shot, she was overcome by Tanuja Kanwer. The Capitals ended their league stage campaign with a crushing victory and 6.5 overs remaining, sealing the match even before the chase reached the tenth over.
Shikha Pandey
All of us are ecstatic. The think tank did an excellent job getting the balance on the side. Minu had an excellent day of spin bowling today. We have a terrific sense of camaraderie; during the innings, the bowlers maintain in constant communication about their intentions and the kind of lengths that are effective on this pitch. Because our players have so much experience, we are picking up tips from them. We discuss how to carry out our plans and bounce ideas off one another. While the bowlers inside of us feel horrible for the bowlers out there in the middle, we are incredibly thrilled when Shafali is batting that manner.
Shafali Verma was the match’s player
I’ve always considered attempting to play straight, and today was no exception. I respected the bowlers’ deliveries whenever they bowled properly. I would take it if it was within my budget. Today, I played to my strengths, and it worked. I wanted to stay to the very end and was in terrific contact today. I regret not being able to complete the innings today. I constantly strive to field as well as I can, stopping as many runs as I can. Our management strategy of concentrating on our fielding and limiting opponents to the fewest runs feasible has been quite important.
