WPL2024: Delhi Capitals defeat Mumbai Indians by 29 runs

In the Women’s Premier League (WPL) match, Delhi Capitals upset Mumbai Indians by 29 runs thanks to entertaining fifties from Jemimah Rodrigues and captain Meg Lanning. With a 38-ball 53 (6×4, 2×6), Lanning gave the Delhi Capitals a great start. The team finished at 192/4. Jemimah hit a 33-ball 69 not out (8×4, 3×6) to get them to 192/4 down the order. Mumbai Indians responded with 163/8, led by Jess Jonassen’s 3/21 and Marizanne Kapp’s 2/37. Mumbai’s best scorer was Amanjot Kaur, who scored 42 off of 27 balls.

Star batsman Jemimah Rodrigues and skipper Meg Lanning of the Delhi Capitals scored huge fifties after being summoned to bat, helping the hosts amass a massive 192 for four against the Mumbai Indians. Despite Amanjot Kaur’s 42 off 27 and Hayley Matthews’ 29 off 17, Mumbai never appeared to be in control of the 193-run chase, finishing at 163 for 8. This was the reigning champions’ second WPL loss in five games as well as their second versus DC. With their fourth straight victory, Delhi gained two points above Mumbai, who had eight points from five games.

Marizanne Kapp made a significant contribution by collecting two wickets during the powerplay in her first game back after missing the previous one. To protect the massive total, the bowlers, notably Shikha Pandey and Jess Jonassen, played a polished game.

The home team performed admirably with the bat and the ball in front of a small audience at the Arun Jaitley Stadium. Lanning’s strong innings and Jemimah’s spectacular last overs created the conditions for Delhi to win. The bowlers then successfully carried out their strategies, giving Delhi Capitals a commanding victory in the Women’s Premier League.

Yastika Bhatia was bowled by Marizanne Kapp in the first over as she skidded to be bowled. In the second, Sciver-Brunt was surrounded by a Shikha Pandey inswinger and was eventually defended. It was almost over for Mumbai when Harmanpreet Kaur fell in the fourth, giving her the advantage to put an end to Kapp. From then on, they simply kept crashing into wicket after wicket, with only Amanjot Kaur and S Sajana mustering some resistance with scores of 42 and 24 not out, respectively, to lessen the margin of loss that leaves Mumbai with three league games left and rather vulnerable. Having taken eight wickets to head the table, Jess Jonassen, who fought her way into the starting XI three games ago, appears to have cemented herself as one of the all-rounders.

Meg Lanning, Delhi Capitals Captain: “It was a good game for us tonight. We wanted to keep improving. Up against a really good team, happy to get the win. I think having a set batter at the end. Jemi did that really well tonight. There have been phases where we were on top and then lost a couple of wickets. We went for a few but got early wickets. We felt we were at par with the score. We wanted to target the stumps and killed the game early.”

Jemimah Rodrigues, Player of the Match: “More than my batting, just happy we won. We wanted to carry forward the momentum. MI is a good team and we had to be at our best. I think I am very happy. It was a crucial time to come in. Not the easiest of wickets but it suits my style of batting. My team backs me a lot. They believe in me no matter what. I wanted to learn from the mistakes in my last two matches. One of my friends, my dad and even the coaching staff told me to be myself and that is what I did today. After the Test match, I had a couple of days, worked on particular things coming into the WPL. Everyone knows your weaknesses, but you also need to know how to manoeuvre the gaps. Trying to just play on the bowler’s minds and that worked well for me. Once you do that, you are one step ahead and that helped me.”

Harmanpreet Kaur, Mumbai Indians captain: “While fielding, we gave away too many runs. Fielding was not up to the mark as well. When you are playing at this level, you cannot make such mistakes. Even though our top order did not contribute, we could score 160. We were not as aware of the pitch and that is why we wanted to chase. We were expecting dew but there was not much dew. The ball was gripping and they bowled well, not giving us any freebies. We told them if they can stick to their plans, it will give results. While batting, we were thinking if we can exploit it and score more runs. It affected us while batting but with the ball, we wanted to bowl to our plans. Change of pace was helping the bowlers, and it was keeping low. Otherwise, it was a bit easy to play your shots. This wicket is different to Bengaluru and we need to think what will work for us. She is someone who is doing really well with the bat. Today, she contributed really well. if one or two batters would have contributed more, result might have been in our favour.”