“We want to play with freedom, we want to take the game on.” The Delhi Capitals skipper Meg Lanning speaks about the kind of approach they would want to continue to adopt, going forward into the tournament.
The Delhi Capitals spin duo consisting of the likes of Jess Jonassen (4-0-22-3) and Radha Yadav (4-0-20-3) wreaked havoc as they accounted for six batters in the Gujarat Giants line-up to derail their run chase. Delhi Capitals eventually sealed the game by 25 runs as the Giants continue, the hunt for their first points this season.
The Gujarat Giants skipper Beth Mooney won the toss and opted to field first. After being inserted to bat first, Delhi Capitals posted a total of 163/8 in their quota of overs on the back of handy contributions from skipper Meg Lanning leading from the front, notching up a well-deserved half-century (55 off 41 balls), Alice Capsey (27 off 17 balls), Annabel Sutherland (20 off 12 balls), and Shikha Pandey (14 off 8 balls) propelled them over the 150-run mark.
“To be honest I actually felt like the wicket was pretty flat and I was missing out a fair bit. But I thought Gujarat bowled well and kept it pretty tight, so I felt like I had to adjust a few things and perhaps could have done that a little bit earlier, just to accelerate a bit quicker, but I sort of found my grove a bit. I was getting a little bit frustrated, I would have loved to go on with it, I think it was just a disappointing time to get out, we just got on top and lost a couple of wickets after that. While it’s nice to score some runs, I certainly would like to do it a little bit differently moving forward, so there’s not too much pressure on everybody else to up the strike rate, but that’s how it panned out tonight.” skipper Meg Lanning speaks about making a few adjustments to her game.
Chasing a target of 164, Gujarat Giants got off to a horrible start conceding a maiden over to start their run chase, eventually losing Laura Wolvaardt for a duck. Most of the Giants batters got off to a start but failed to convert it into a match-winning innings. The star all-rounder Ashleigh Gardner (40 off 31 balls) was the lone warrior with the bat for Gujarat Giants. However, she failed to get her side over the line as they fell short of the target by 25 runs. Meghna Singh (4-0-37-4), Ashleigh Gardner (4-0-37-2) and (40 off 31 balls) with the bat, Tanuja Kanwer (4-0-31-1) and (13 off 16 balls) with the bat, alongside Mannat Kashyap (3-0-16-1) were the top performers for the Gujarat Giants.
“Well, look Meghna is somebody who’s been known for her outswingers, but she’s working really hard back in the nets to get the ball in, and I think she delivered that quite well. She had a few plans and she executed them quite well. So obviously when you are lined up with a few things like, your focus is what needs to be done, and if it is executed well, that’s the result. So I’m actually happy for Meghna for delivering good, because you know, she bowled all the three phases and did quite well and got us those breakthroughs which were crucial at crucial times.” The Gujarat Giants bowling coach Nooshin Al Khadeer sheds light on the hard work done by Meghna Singh in the nets, finally reaping rewards for her.
The left-arm spinner Jess Jonassen was awarded the Player of the Match for her brilliant spell (4-0-22-3) with the ball and she also scored (11 off 7 balls) with the bat, playing a crucial role in helping Delhi Capitals claim the top spot in the points table.