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WPL 2023: Shafali Verma, Meg Lanning take Delhi Capitals to big win over RCB
Delhi Capitals’ young Indian opener and Australian legend put the RCB bowlers to sword at the Brabourne Stadium
Left to deliver in hot and humid conditions on a flat Brabourne deck, the stage was set for a run-fest. That wasn’t the view in the Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) camp when skipper Smriti Mandhana invited Delhi Capitals to bat. She felt the grass on the pitch would offer early assistance to the bowlers, but there was none for them.
The DC opening duo of Shafali Verma and Meg Lanning, their Aussie skipper, launched into the RCB bowlers from the beginning. Their 162-run opening stand helped DC post a massive total of 223/2. RCB couldn’t even come close to matching that as they were handed a 60-run defeat in the first game of a double header in the Women’s Premier League (WPL) on Sunday.
Lanning’s 72 (43b, 14x4) perfectly complemented Verma’s 84 (45b, 10x4, 4x6). Marizanne Kapp (39*, 17b) and Jemimah Rodrigues (22*, 15b) then shared in an unfinished 60-run stand from 31 deliveries.
The more the DC batters raised the tempo, the more RCB bowling grew increasingly inconsistent. Ball-by-ball data keepers say Verma averages 30 and strikes at 283 while playing aerial shots; very high, looking at the global average. Going big was how she thought all along after seeing the significantly shortened boundaries for this tournament.
While Lanning was searching for fours by finding the gaps, the young Indian wasn’t letting any of the loopy spin on offer go unpunished with anything but maximum. After the powerplay, DC were 57/0. At the half way mark, they were 105/0. After 14, 152/0.
For uncapped Indian bowlers, the league has proved a tough initiation. Sobhana Asha found that when her flighted leg-breaks were demolished by Verma. Her two straight sixes and a powerful sweep saw Asha going for 22 runs in the 9th over. It wasn’t the only very expensive over of the innings. In the final over of the powerplay phase, Verma and Lanning combined to take Sophie Devine for a 20-run over.
Lanning had played down talk of Verma’s impetuous batting at the start of the league, suggesting that all the Indian needed was more experience. She got that in abundance as the youngster and Aussie star dominated the RCB bowlers.
It was finally the double-wicket over, the 15th bowled by off-spinner Heather Knight, which saw both the set batters dismissed, beaten in flight. At 163/2, RCB would have entertained thoughts of restricting the total but the third-wicket stand between Marizanne and Jemimah pushed the target almost beyond reach.
The wicket played fair in both the innings and RCB’s top three Mandhana (35 - 23b), Sofie Devine (14, 11b) and Ellyse Perry (31, 19b) showed intent at the beginning of the run chase. But quick cameos were never going to be enough. The introduction of left-arm seamer Tara Norris in the 11th over pegged RCB back. Her disciplined lengths bowled from an angle saw the back of Perry and Disha Kasat. In her very next over, she accounted for Heather Knight and Kanika Ahuja. The only American in the league finished with 5/29 as RCB were stranded at 163/8.
CHALLENGING UMPIRES
Cricket is going further and further away from the times when the umpire’s call would be final. On Saturday, MI skipper Harmanpreet Kaur challenged a wide call. On Sunday, it was Jemimah’s turn to challenge a waist high no ball. In the final over of DC’s innings, Rodrigues signalled, asking to check if Megan Schutt’s dipping full toss was above waist level. But she was attempting a shot while crouched. Kaur managed to get the decision reversed while Rodrigues’ appeal wasn’t upheld by the third umpire.
One way or the other, this new WPL regulation that allows the batting side to challenge the on-field umpire’s wide or no ball call and any on-field dismissal indicates technology is having an increasing role in the game.
