In a thrilling clash of the Women’s Premier League, Delhi Capitals edged past Mumbai Indians in a nail-biting contest, clinching victory by just two wickets on the last delivery of the second innings. Chasing a decent total, Delhi found themselves in a spot of bother, but the young Niki Prasad anchored the chase and guided her team to a last-over triumph, thereby being named as the Player of the Match. This clash marked the second intense match of the WPL, living up to the tournament’s electrifying and reputed benchmarks.
In the post-match press conference, Capitals’ pacer Shikha Pandey addressed the media questions.
“Last time, the season opener was a pretty-similar match- but we ended on the wrong side of the result, but this time we’ve ended on the right side of the result. The thing that is most heartening is that we are still not a full-strengthened team but are still full of superstars. Happy for Niki Prasad who was playing her first match- an intense packed match. – who took us closer which brought about a complete team effort.”
Shikha Pandey said she knew she had to take wickets with the new ball. Having closely followed the previous game, she was aware that the pitch was quite flat. She expressed her happiness in contributing to the team’s success.
“When RCB bowled first against the Gujarat Giants, Renuka bowled an economical spell at a time when the team conceded 200+ runs. Huge part is to get wickets first and the new ball is going to swing. This is something I’ve been working on and nice to have worked it out as well.”
Shikha Pandey praised Mumbai Indians bowlers for varying their pace effectively and acknowledged their captaincy. She also commended her own team’s captaincy, mentioning that at one point, they expected to chase a target exceeding 180 runs but managed to keep taking wickets at regular intervals.
“I’m not a part of the leadership group but Meg Lanning goes by her gut feeling. It was best suited for her to go for an off spinner when Yashtika Bhatia was batting. They invest a lot of time in building matchups against various teams. It gives you happiness when you spend so much time planning but eventually it executes well on the field.”
The 35-year-old expressed that while the team will take confidence from this win, there are still areas that need improvement. She emphasized the importance of celebrating victories while also learning from setbacks. “We’ll sit down tomorrow to analyze and work on those aspects,” she added.
Switching tracks towards the other end, head coach Charlotte Edwards reflected on the team’s performance, key moments, and what went wrong in the final stages. Despite the disappointment, she remained optimistic about the road ahead.
“It is difficult and hard to lose a match on the very last ball, but there are a lot of positives from our performance by the way we fought back with the bowling. The Delhi Capitals played well and put us under pressure. We did not probably execute in the death overs as we would have liked- but that happens. It was a great game of cricket but unfortunately, we were on the wrong side of it today.”
Edwards acknowledged the areas that need improvement, emphasizing that the team should have reached a total of 180 or more, which ultimately cost them the match. She praised Shafali’s brilliant performance and expressed pride in the team’s fighting spirit and determination. She appreciated their aggressive approach with the ball and encouraged them to maintain that intensity while focusing on sharpening certain aspects before their next game against the Gujarat Giants.
“You’ve to stay pretty calm and it’s pretty hard when 3 runouts go to the third umpire. I’ve played and been there around the game and know that it is all about moving on and look forward to playing the next game on Tuesday. Harmanpreet and Brunt’s partnership made it look so easy. The run out of Melie Kerr was massive in the game. She has a calm head and would’ve got us above that 180+ mark. Not batting for the entire 20 overs was an issue but certainly not a concern for me.
The last two evenings have been fantastic. Great wickets and I guess the boundary size is a bit bigger (laughs) but that’s probably what is going to be there for the next coming games,” she added.
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