BENGALURU: Delhi Capitals became the first team to qualify for the WPL playoffs this year after they hammered home team Royal Challengers Bengaluru by nine wickets here on Saturday.
Chasing 148, opener Shafali Verma and Jess Jonassen put on 146 runs for the second-wicket partnership as DC romped home with 4.3 overs remaining. Shafali remained unbeaten on 80 off 43 balls while Jonassen hit an unbeaten 61 off 38. Shafali hit four sixes and eight boundaries in her knock.
Go Beyond The Boundary with our YouTube channel. SUBSCRIBE NOW!
Entering the match on the back of a hat-trick of losses, Ellyse Perry did her best to cheer up the home crowd as RCB managed to post 147/5 .
Asked to bat, RCB lost their skipper Smriti Mandhana for eight. But as Ellyse (60 n.o, 3×4, 3×6) walked in, the crowd welcomed her with a raucous roar.
The in-form Ellyse and opener Danni Wyatt-Hodge (21, 2×4, 1×6) quickly put behind the early setback as the hosts cruised to 45/1 at the end of powerplay. While the English top-order batter found her first boundary of the evening with a four over midwicket off Marizanne Kapp, Ellyse effortlessly dispatched Shikha in the next over.
The pair then took on Jess Jonassen, smashing a couple of sixes in the penultimate over of the powerplay. Ellyse’s lofted straight shot saw the Australian become the leading run-scorer in the tournament’s history. But a strategic timeout by DC at the end of the seventh over, broke the rhythm as Marizanne Kapp once again handed Capitals the breakthrough with the well-set Wyatt-Hodge nicking it to ‘keeper Sarah Bryce.
Sree Charani picked up two quick wickets in the 17th over. After Charani removed the set Raghvi for her maiden WPL wicket, new batter Richa Ghosh followed suit.
- Brief scores: Delhi Capitals 151 for 1 (Shafali 80*, Jonassen 61*) beat RCB 147/5 (Perry 60*, Pandey 2-24, Charani 2-28) by nine wickets
