“It’s probably gonna be a matter of whoever misses out is going to be based on conditions and tough calls need to be made, but everybody outside understands that. We want DC to do well and ultimately go one better than we did last year.” Jess Jonassen speaks about prioritizing the team’s requirements.
Exceptional bowling at the death-over phase by the likes of Marizanne Kapp, Arundhati Reddy, Shikha Pandey, and Jess Jonassen, restricted the final onslaught by RCB as they eventually fell 25 runs short of the target. They required 57 runs off the last five, and they just managed to score 31 runs alongside losing wickets in clusters, and eventually the Delhi Capitals handed the home side, RCB their first defeat of the season.
The Royal Challengers Bangalore skipper Smriti Mandhana won the toss and opted to field first. After being inserted to bat first, Delhi Capitals posted a massive total of 194/5 in their quota of overs. Impressive performances from Shafali Verma (50 off 31 balls), Alice Capsey (46 off 33 balls), Jess Jonassen (36 off 16 balls), and Marizanne Kapp (32 off 16 balls) propelled the Capitals to a massive total.
However, they were aided by below-par efforts on the field by the Royal Challengers Bangalore. Sophie Devine (3-0-23-2) and Renuka Singh (4-0-28-0), alongside the WPL debutant the 24-year-old all-rounder from South Africa Nadine de Klerk (4-0-35-2) were the top performers with the ball for RCB. “I thought we bowled pretty poorly. To be fair, I thought we probably leaked close to 40 or 50 runs with just poor execution with the ball. Starting and finishing overs were a real problem and you can’t give a side like Delhi opportunities like that to finish the way that they did.” Sophie Devine reflects on the lack of execution from the bowling unit, eventually costing them the game.
Chasing a target of 195, RCB got off to a solid start, scoring over 9 runs an over courtesy of skipper Smriti Mandhana to keep her side in the run chase. However, Sabbhineni Meghana struggled to keep up with the required rate, but wicket-keeper Richa Ghosh continued to keep them in the hunt by smashing a couple of monstrous blows into the crowd. However, it wasn’t to be for the home side as they struggled to get the ball to the ropes consistently and eventually suffered their first defeat of the season as they fell 25 runs short of the target.
Smriti Mandhana (74 off 43 balls), Sophie Devine (23 off 17 balls), Richa Ghosh (19 off 13 balls), and Sabbhineni Meghana (36 off 31 balls) were the top performers with the bat for RCB. Jess Jonassen (3/21), Marizanne Kapp (2/35), and Arundhati Reddy (2/38) were the top performers with the ball for the Delhi Capitals. “It’s probably gonna be a matter of whoever misses out is going to be based on conditions and tough calls need to be made, but everybody outside understands that. We want DC to do well and ultimately go one better than we did last year.” Jess Jonassen speaks about prioritizing the team’s requirements.