Delhi Capital was one match away from securing a spot in the playoffs; however, they lost to Sneh Rana’s side by giving away all the wickets to their bowlers in 18.4 overs. Technically, they are still just one win from bringing up the total to 10 points on the leaderboard. Gujarat Giants posted 147 with a loss of 4 wickets after DC elected to bowl first at Brabourne Stadium on March 16, 2023.
Sophia Dunkley departed early with 4 runs to her name. What came next was a storm by Laura Wolvaardt, Harleen Deol, and Ashleigh Gardner, with two of them scoring half-centuries at a 120+ strike rate.
Laura and Gardner achieved the feat in 45 and 33 balls, respectively. Their partnership put up 81 runs for the third wicket in just 53 balls, bringing 93 runs in the last 10 overs at the rate of 9.3. Deol stood at 31 runs in 33 balls.
Meg Lanning experimented with controlling the innings through 7 bowlers. The aggression did not stop, and GG proceeded unrestricted. Only Marizanne Kapp and Jess Jonassen went through with their innings to pick 1 and 2 wickets in that order. Arundhati Reddy was given three chances to find the length. She did once and sent Laura back to the pavilion. Critical wickets, one might say, but Gardner remained unbeaten, and that is all that was required in the death overs.
DC had nothing to lose, only to win 2 points like they did the last time against GG. It was a 10-wicket victory secured in the 8th over by conveniently chasing the target of 106.
Tables turned when the skipper left the field with an LBW decision in Rana’s over. Shafali Verma has been working along with Lanning to form a solid base for the middle order. Not this time, 8 runs did not suffice the purpose. The pressure was obvious when Jemimah came to bat following Alice Capsey in the batting order. Some of the top cricket betting sites have predicted that the duo will make it work again. Just a single and Jemimah departed for the pavilion as well.
Overall, DC lost three important wickets in 11 balls, with two of them coming in the same over of Sneh Rana.
Marizanne Kapp looked to finish the match for DC, having scored 36 off 29 balls with 4-fours and 1-six. She fell short at the time of reaching the crease and became a victim of run out by Ashwani Kumari. Arundhati Reddy continued the momentum for a while before misguiding the shot that landed in the hands of Sneh Rana in the over being delivered by Kim Garth.
Kim went on to pick two wickets with an economy of 4.50 in four overs. Tanuja Kanwar is a name that cannot be left out of the discussion. Her contribution was two wickets in four overs, giving away 29 runs. Gardner finished the match in her over by taking the second wicket in her inning, where only 2 balls were left.
DC is still at the second spot, while GG has a thin chance of fighting for the second or third spot in the TATA Women’s Premier League.
