The 20th match of Women’s Premier League (WPL) 2024 between Delhi Capitals and Gujarat Giants wrapped up the league stage of the tournament. DC came out victorious in a seemingly dominant fashion as they won the match by 7 wickets and roared into the final.
With the win, Delhi Capitals have now gained the top spot in the points table, meaning the Smriti Mandhana-led Royal Challengers Bangalore will now face Mumbai Indians in the eliminator match on the March 15 and the winner will face DC in the summit clash.
But to recapitulate tonight’s game let’s go over the highlights of the match:
Bharti Fulmali and Kathryn Bryce bail GG
Although the toss went in favour of Gujarat Giants and they decided to bat first, fate had something different written for the team’s destiny. It started with skipper and opener Beth Mooney losing her wicket in the opening over, followed by Dayalan Hemalatha falling for a duck in the fourth over. In the very next over, Marizanne Kapp sent Laura Wolvaardt back to the pavilion as the wickets kept falling. However, it was newcomer Bharti Fulmali and Scotland’s Kathryn Bryce, who saved GG from humiliation with their partnership. The duo stitched a partnership of 68 runs off 51 balls, marking the highest contribution from the team. Vidarbha’s regular batter Fulmali scored 42 (36), a significant contribution considering it is only her second game in the tournament, while Bryce scored 28 (22). The partnership led GG to a total of 126 runs.
Two wickets for Pandey, Kapp and Mani
Gujarat Giants have had a streak of bad luck for two consecutive seasons of the tournament and Delhi Capitals’ Shikha Pandey, Marizanne Kapp and Minnu Mani catalysed a batting collapse. It was Kapp who struck early and picked the wickets of skipper Beth Mooney for a duck in the first over and the dangerous Laura Wolvaardt in the fifth over. Later in the game, it was Mani who dismissed Ashleigh Gardner in the ninth over. In her next over Mani struck again as she bagged the wicket of Phoebe Litchfield. In the death overs, it was Pandey who broke the highest partnership of the innings as she cleaned up Fulmali and later did light work of Tanuja Kanwar as the remaining batters gave away their wickets through runouts.
Shafali Varma, Jemimah Rodrigues partnership cherry on top
The two batters have been in brilliant form this season. Shafali seems to be back in her aggressive stroke play whereas Jemimah seems like she is now back to being her consistent self. Even though Meg Lanning tried to give an aggressive start to the team, she got run out while trying to go for a quick single. Later Alice Capsey also fell for a duck, leaving Shafali and Jemimah to accomplish their mission. They two stitched a partnership of 94 runs off 57 balls with Shafali scoring 71 (37) with a blistering strike rate of 191.89 and Jemimah posting 38 (28). The opener also clinched the ‘Player of the Match’ award.