Delhi Capitals 167 for 3 (Lanning 69, Sutherland 41*) beat UP Warriorz 166 for 7 (Navgire 51, Sehrawat 37, Henry 33*, Sutherland 2-26) by seven wickets
Navgire’s big hits against the big names
Navgire put all the doubts around Warriorz’s inexperienced top order to bed by taking on the big names in Captilas’ attack. She got going from ball one, smacking Kapp for back-to-back fours with a pull and straight loft. In the next over she repeated the act by making room against Shikha Pandey’s inswingers with glorious drives. She upped the level further when she walloped Kapp and Jess Jonassen for two sixes and a one-bounce four all within the space of three balls to race to 35 off 13. With a straight six off Pandey at the start of the fifth over, Navgire brought up Warriorz’s fastest team fifty, off 25 balls, and then brought up her own fifty off 24 balls, the joint-fastest by a Warriorz batter.
Kiran Navgire got UP Warriorz off to a flying start•WPL
Sutherland sends Warriorz ‘scrambling’
The Capitals spinners stepped up from the other end. Jonassen fired one outside off to have Tahlia McGrath stumped and Deepti Sharma suffered the same fate when she couldn’t connect against the drift and turn of offspinner Minnu Mani. In a matter of 23 balls, Warriotz had lost 4 for 16 that eventually cost them the match.
Henry shines on WPL debut
Warriorz were headed towards more misery when Harris miscued an offcutter for 12 and they were reeling at 118 for 5. But with five overs to go, it was WPL debutant Chinelle Henry who struck the big hits as Shweta Sehrawat also showed her hitting skills with 37 off 33. Henry, who had scored 61 in her last game at the same ground for West Indies, lifted Warriorz from 128 to 150 single-handedly by smashing Pandey all around the park for three sixes and a four in four balls for a 23-run 17th over. Capitals, however, bounced back to concede just 16 runs in the last three as Jonassen varied her pace and Arundhati Reddy and Kapp took the pace off.
Lanning and Shafali pepper the boundaries, again
That Lanning and Shafali brought up their second fifty stand in three games was nothing new in the WPL, but this time it was with Lanning looking far more confident. Following two scratchy innings, she led her team for nearly three-fourths of the chase with a solid 69 off 49 after Shafali’s 26 off 16 deflated UPW in the powerplay. Shafali punished Kranti Goud in the first over, Lanning dabbed Sophie Ecclestone for two fours in the second, they went after Rajeshwari Gayakwad and Goud together in the third and fifth, and with three fours off Henry’s two overs, Capitals had 59 in the powerplay and the batting pair had their tenth 50-plus opening stand in WPL, the most by a distance.
Meg Lanning brought up a quick half-century•BCCI
Sutherland, Kapp see Capitals home after a stutter
Warriorz put down their first chance when Henry dropped Shafali on 25 at deep midwicket although it didn’t cost them much because the batter pulled again to Henry four balls later on 26. It became two wickets in five balls when Jemimah Rodrigues paddled to short fine leg for her third duck in WPL. Once the wickets slowed things down briefly, Lanning’s nifty footwork fetched her three fours in two overs to pull things back while a steady Sutherland kept going at run a ball.
Once Ecclestone and Harris sent down two boundary-less overs to bring the equation from 57 off 42 to 47 off 30 along with the wicket of Lanning, Warriorz were clawing back in the game. But Eccelstone put down a sitter of Sutherland and Kapp reeled off boundaries with placement and power to bring Capitals back and she also got a life in the penultimate over.
With 11 needed from six, Warriorz conceded two fours that could have been stopped in the outfield and McGrath failed to collect the ball at the bowler’s end from mid-on which could have led to a run-out but turned out to be the winning run.
Vishal Dikshit is an assistant editor at ESPNcricinfo
