WPL2024: Radha Yadav and Marizanne Kapp provide the ideal setup prior to Shafali Verma’s attack. With victory seemingly within reach, the Delhi Capitals and UP Warriorz entered their Women’s Premier League (WPL) openers on the heels of devastating losses. Its margins were extremely thin. On Monday, however, the contrast was even more evident as DC crushed UPW in a one-sided match to win by nine wickets with 33 balls remaining.
Meg Lanning picked to bowl first, and she gave the ball to Powerplay specialist Marizanne Kapp, who responded with a four-over burst of high quality, recording stunning figures of 4-1-5-3. Radha Yadav, the spinner who Lanning later said had come into this match as if with a point to prove, picked up four wickets, and all UPW could manage was 119/9 in their 20 overs. Almost everything went wrong for UP Warriorz from the moment the coin fell in Lanning’s favour.
If at first that seemed lacking, Shafali Verma and Lanning mad
e it look terribly inadequate. The pair, who were by far the best opening combination in the WPL the previous season, put on another three-figure performance with half-centuries each.
Despite the devastating batting effort, DC’s victory was largely due to their bowling. Kapp began the evening by perfecting her away swings and choking the UPW hitters with a persistent fourth-stump line that was quite long. As she struggled with timing, Vrinda Dinesh was the first to go, slicing one to deep third. With the wickets of captain Alyssa Healy and Tahlia McGrath in her subsequent over, Kapp severely damaged UPW’s batting line.
When the ball swung away, McGrath struggled to get bat on it and was cleaned up by one that angled in and straightened. The ball struck the top of off because she completely missed the line. Healy attempted to quicken the pace, but Shafali abruptly stopped him.
Then it was Radha’s turn, who displayed incredible bravery by continuing to flight the ball in spite of being caught for boundaries against UPW’s heavy hitters. Grace Harris was her first victim; she hit a four and fell. Then it was Kiran Navgire, who, just moments after hitting one skyward into the stands, was caught and bowled by a taunting delivery outside off. Lanning was impressed by her conviction in her work.
For her next wicket, Radha displayed excellent tactical awareness as she was bowled out by the charging Shweta Sehrawat, who top-scored with 45 runs. In the 20th over, Sophie Ecclestone was dismissed by the left-arm spinner.
To have any chance of winning the chase, UPW needed to take early wickets, but Shafali got things going right away. Lanning said afterwards that she enjoyed seeing the fireworks from the non-striker’s end, which was not her first time doing so during the WPL. Shafali was particularly harsh on McGrath’s medium pace, hitting two fours and a six in one over to end the Powerplay. She continued to find the boundary at regular intervals.
Lanning arrived shortly after, showcasing her remarkable ability to hit shots square of the wicket on both sides. The UPW camp was increasingly frustrated as they misplayed, dropped catches, got into a few arguments, and ultimately lost the game. Later, Healy mentioned that they would need to decide on the makeup of their squad. She would need to use her analytical skills to determine their batting lineup, as players such as Danni Wyatt and Chamari Athapaththu would be waiting outside.
