CHENNAI: With a clinical performance against UP Warriorz in their final league game at the CCI Brabourne Stadium, Mumbai, Delhi Capitals finished on the top of the points table and directly qualified for the final of the Women’s Premier League. Mumbai Indians and UP Warriorz will face each other in the eliminator on Friday.
In what was a spin-dominating encounter, Alice Capsey, Radha Yadav and Jess Jonassen shared six wickets between themselves. At one point, UP were struggling at 91/4, but Tahlia McGrath took it upon herself to smash an unbeaten 58, helping UP get to 138/6.
In reply, Capitals went out all guns blazing with Shafali Verma (16-ball 21) and Meg Lanning (23-ball 39) taking the attack to the bowlers. When they lost three quick wickets, Capsey and Marizanne Kapp made sure there was no further hiccups. The former scored 34 runs from 32 balls before getting out to Sophie Ecclestone, but Kapp took Capitals home in 17.1 overs.
Earlier in the evening, Mumbai Indians trumped Royal Challengers Bangalore by four wickets at the DY Patil Stadium, Navi Mumbai. White Ferns all-rounder Amelia Kerr was the star of the match as the youngster took three wickets for just 22 runs to restrict RCB for 125/9 before guiding the team through the chase with an unbeaten 27-ball 33. With that win, Mumbai moved to the top of the table, but the Capitals’ victory later in the evening meant they finished second. RCB finished fourth with Gujarat Giants ending up in last place.
Brief scores:
Royal Challengers Bangalore 125/9 in 20 overs (Richa 29, Perry 29; Kerr 3/22) lost to Mumbai Indians 129/6 in 16.3 overs (Kerr 31 n.o, Bhatia 30; Ahuja 2/5)
UP Warriorz 138/6 in 20 overs (McGrath 58 n.o; Capsey 3/26) lost to Delhi Capitals 142/5 in 17.5 overs (Capsey 34, Kapp 34 n.o).