WPL: Lanning, Jemimah shine in DC’s 29-run win over MI

Skipper Meg Lanning and Jemimah Rodrigues smashed commanding fifties as Delhi Capitals thrashed Mumbai Indians by 29 runs in a top-of-the-table clash of the Women's Premier League (WPL) here on Tuesday.

New Delhi: Skipper Meg Lanning and Jemimah Rodrigues smashed commanding fifties as Delhi Capitals thrashed Mumbai Indians by 29 runs in a top-of-the-table clash of the Women’s Premier League (WPL) here on Tuesday.

Sent in to bat, Lanning fired at the top with a 38-ball 53, while Jemimah hit an entertaining 33-ball 69 to provide the late acceleration as DC racked up a massive 192 for 4 after the WPL juggernaut moved to the national capital amid lukewarm response.

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Mumbai Indians’ chase never took off, ending up with a 163 for 8 despite Amanjot Kaur’s 42 off 27 and Hayley Matthews’ 29 off 17 as the defending champions crashed to their second defeat in five matches and only second against DC in WPL history.

This was Delhi’s fourth win on the trot as they moved two points clear of Mumbai with eight points from five matches. DC thus consolidated their position at the top with the win which will act like a balm for the home team, which had suffered a heartbreaking last-ball loss to the MI in the tournament opener.

In contrast to the roaring success in the first leg, the first game of the Delhi leg saw a sparse crowd at the Arun Jaitley Stadium which build up as the match wore on but still couldn’t match the ‘crowd energy’ of Bengaluru. The hosts, however, put on a show with their bowlers producing a clinical display while defending the total.

Returning after missing the last game, Marizanne Kapp once again did the damage in the powerplay, taking two wickets — Yastika Bhatia (6) and Harmanpreet Kaur (6), while fellow pacer Shikha Pandey cleaned up Nat Sciver-Brunt (5) to leave MI on shaky grounds.

Opener Matthews made a strokeful 17-ball 29 before being caught by Alice Capsey off left-arm spinner Jess Jonassen (3/21), while 19-year-old pacer Titas Sadhu removed Amelia Kerr (17) as MI lost half their side in 9th over.

The 23-year-old Amanjot smacked seven fours on way to her 42 to give a tinge of hope but once she was castled by Jonassen, the runrate kept piling up and it became too tall a task. Earlier, opener Lanning hit the ball across the ropes six times and twice over it en route to her third half-century, and added three useful partnerships to anchor the DC innings for the most part.

Later Jemimah smashed 8 fours and 3 sixes to take DC close to the 200-mark. Shafali Verma (28) and Alice Capsey (19) too chipped in with quick cameos. Pacer Shabnim Ismail, who had missed last two games, was put under the pump by Shafali, who carted her for two fours.

Lanning, on the other hand, blasted the first maximum, flicking Sciver-Brunt over long on, and then hit a four before surviving a LBW appeal in the fourth over which yielded 14 runs. Shafali then clobbered Ismail for back-to-back sixes but the bowler had her caught behind as Delhi reached 56 for one in six overs.

Capsey added 31 with Lanning, hitting three boundaries before dragging one on to the stumps while trying a reverse slap. Lanning carried on and plundered two fours and a six off Amelia Kerr, who conceded 20 runs in that over, as DC crossed the 100-mark.

The skipper completed her fifty in 36 balls with a four off Pooja Vastrakar in 13th over but perished a ball later with Kerr claiming the vital catch. Mumbai tried to pull things back thereafter but Jemimah upped the scoring rate with a flurry of boundaries as DC scored 69 in last five overs. She reached her fifty with a six off Sciver-Brunt in the 19th over.

Brief Scores: Delhi Capitals 192/4 (Jemimah Rodrigues 69, Meg Lanning 53) bt Mumbai Indians 163/8 (Amanjot Kaur 42; Jess Jonassen 3/21).