DC win humdinger despite Richa heroics, go on top of table

PTI, Mar 11, 2024, 8:07 AM IST

Delhi Capitals batter Jemimah Rodrigues plays a shot during the Women's Premier League (WPL) 2024 cricket match between Delhi Capitals and Royal Challengers Bangalore at Arun Jaitley Stadium, in New Delhi, Sunday, March 10, 2024. (Credit: PTI Photo)

New Delhi: Richa Ghosh hit two monstrous sixes but paid the price for her poor fitness as Delhi Capitals found her short of crease to win a cliffhanger against Royal Challengers by a solitary run in the Women’s Premier League on Sunday.

Needing 17 off last over to reach a target of 182, Richa, who blasted 51 off 29 balls, smote left-arm spinner Jess Jonassen for a 78 metre straight six and another maximum off the penultimate delivery to bring the equation down to two runs off the final delivery.

However Richa, not exactly known for being the fittest among Indian cricketers despite brute power in her strokes, wasn’t fast enough to beat Jonassen, who whipped the bails off in a flash to restrict RCB to 180 for 7.

DC, with their fifth win, are now on 10 points and lead the table due to superior net run-rate (+0.918) compared to Mumbai Indians (+.343).

Needing 28 off final two overs, Shikha Pandey conceded couple of boundaries but removed Georgia Wareham, leaving left-arm spinner Jonassen to defend 17 in the final over.

Earlier, Jemimah Rodrigues displayed her complete mastery over slow bowlers with a 26-ball half-century that propelled Delhi Capitals to a competitive 181 for 5 in 20 overs.

However, young off-spinner Shreyanka Patil grabbed four for 26 in her four overs and was brilliant at the business end of the DC innings to put brakes on the home team’s scoring.

In front of a vociferous holiday crowd, Rodrigues brought out sweeps, cuts, pulls and the exquisite inside-out lofted drive from the closet to score 58 off 34 balls, adding 97 runs in just 10.1 overs for the third wicket with Alice Capsey (48 off 32 balls), who used the long handle to good effect during the slog overs.

This was after Shafali Verma (23 off 18 balls) and Meg Lanning (29 off 26 balls) added 54 for the opening stand but they were then dismissed in quick succession.

Rodrigues, not exactly known for her power-hitting, depended on her solid touch play, immaculate timing and deft placements to get eight fours and a six.

The maximum off leg-break bowler Georgia Wareham, imperiously hit over extra cover, brought up her fifty.

However, her best shot was the inside out loft that was dispatched to boundary just wide of long-off. She found an able ally in Capsey, who initially let the Indian take more of the strike before upping the ante during the death overs.

Spinner Asha Shobhana, seeing her coming down the track, tried to bowl one wide and out of her reach but the Southern Stars batter used her big reach to wallop her over extra cover.

Rodrigues, who should have scored more, was bowled round the legs when she tried to convert off-spinner Shreyanka’s full-toss into an over-pitched delivery in her bid to play a paddle sweep.

Capsey, who also hit eight boundaries, continued to find the gaps before opposition’s best bowler Shreyanka bowled a great last couple of overs to keep DC under check, conceding only nine runs in them.