Shafali Verma ensued the charge with a superb 37-ball 71 in today’s match against the Gujarat Giants in the ongoing WPL 2024. Delhi Capitals defeated Gujarat Giants by seven wickets with 41 balls remaining on Wednesday to seal direct qualification to the Women’s Premier League final.
Beth Money won the toss and Gujarat Giants openers Laura Wolvaardt and Mooney were seen walking down the ground to start the inning off where Wolvaardt was off the mark with a single on the very first ball but the unfortunate skipper could only last till the final ball of the over that cost her wicket as Marizanne Kapp bowled her down at a duck.
Recovering somewhat quickly, Wolvaardt was seen banging the fifth ball of the second over for her first boundary but that too couldn’t last longer than the new down Dayalan Hemalatha’s dismissal in the fourth over of the WPL 2024. Wolvaardt too gave up on her wicket succumbing to Kapp’s another attack with the ball that removed her off the crease at just 7 off 11.
Phoebe Litchfield and Ashleigh Gardner were the fresh middle order coming in to bat in a tough situation when the top order had collapsed in the powerplay itself. They managed to pull some strokes bringing a couple of boundaries along with the need to rotate the strike. But Delhi Capitals had their day to scalp away another wicket of Gardner in the ninth over at 12 off 12.
Next in the queue was Litchfield in the eleventh over at the hands of Minnu Mani only after hitting the inning’s first maximum for her team that was crawling to put a decent-looking score on the board. Bharti Fulmali and Kathryn Bryce were fresh on the crease after half of the team was back in the pavilion during the WPL 2024 game.
2️⃣ x MAXIMUMS 💥@TheShafaliVerma hitting the ball over the line with ease
— Women's Premier League (WPL) (@wplt20) March 13, 2024
Live 💻📱https://t.co/qXiPrN1UKL#TATAWPL | #DCvGG | @DelhiCapitals pic.twitter.com/UsyiEw46N5
And there was Fulmali seen trying her best at her utmost skill, power and resilience to hit the much-needed two consecutive boundaries in the 12th over which was contemplated by Bryce with a banging boundary in the following over rejoiced by Fulmali again with a four in the same over.
Things looked coming in the arms of both the batters as they were focused on singles as well as timely boundaries as Fulmali was up on Shikha Pandey’s deliveries in the 15th over to go for two more boundaries. After a series of singles and a fine show of cricket mingled with the continuous rotation of strikes from both the batters dealing the pressure in a matured play Bryce timed the last ball of the 17th over for a boundary followed by another in the next over along with one from Fulmali.
ALSO READ: WPL 2024: Delhi Capitals (DC) – SWOT Analysis
But Fulmali could only last for one more boundary in the 19th over before finally getting dismissed at 42 by Pandey who chiselled Tanuja Kanwar on the very next delivery for a golden duck. The last over saw two runouts in the name of Shabnam Shakil and Meghna Singh as Bryce fought hard to add two final boundaries to set the scoreboard at 126 for the loss of 9. Delhi had it all in their bowling and fielding to curb the Giants at a low-scoring game.
Shafali Verma and Meg Lanning, the Capitals’ popular opening duo were out on the crease swaying their bats to and fro as the chase started on a somewhat silent note with both the batters running off the mark for a single in the first over which saw a spectacular show of batting from Lanning in the second over bowled by Bryce who was beaten up with four back-to-back thumping boundaries from the bat of Lanning.
Watching Lanning surging on the top of the chase, Verma’s bat too couldn’t keep silent and the third over by Shabnam Shakil was named after Verma as she smashed three gigantic boundaries consecutively. Just as things were running according to the plan, an unfortunate Lanning met her pre-matured dismissal in the fourth over’s first ball at 18 off 10 balls followed by another wicket in the same over in the name of Alice Capsey at a mere duck.
But Verma from the other end promised to play ahead hitting the first maximum of the chase in the fifth over despite two back-to-back fall of crucial wickets. The new down Jemimah Rodrigues too joined hands with Verma to contribute her first boundary in the following over which was contemplated thunderously by Verma with two sixes in the seventh over.
Roaring into the 𝗙𝗜𝗡𝗔𝗟𝗦 🥳@DelhiCapitals are one step closer for the ultimate prize 🏆#TATAWPL | #Final | #DCvGG pic.twitter.com/Z5KnvUofl9
— Women's Premier League (WPL) (@wplt20) March 13, 2024
The eighth and the ninth over went silent comparatively with a few singles and a double to get the scoreboard moving with the rotation of strikes as the match looked well into the fist of the Capitals as Verma hit another boundary accompanied by another maximum in the tenth over. Rodrigues was there with her bat scooping the first ball of the eleventh over for a gigantic maximum and her first in the game that was again rejoiced by Verma with a four.
The 12th and the final over of the game came to an end with Verma starting the over with a four, Rodrigues going ahead for two back-to-back fours which was followed by Verma’s match-winning six in style to bag the match in the easiest way possible, thus pushing the scoreboard two runs ahead of the target at 129 for the loss of 3.
WPL 2024: Gujarat Giants vs Delhi Capitals Brief Scores
Gujarat Giants 126/9 in 20 overs (Bharti Fulmali 42, Kathryn Bryce 28; Minnu Mani 2-9, Marizanne Kapp 2-17) lost to Delhi Capitals 129/3 in 13.1 overs (Shafali Verma 71, Jemimah Rodrigues 38*; Tanuja Kanwar 2-20) by 7 wickets.
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