The Shafali-Lanning show flattens RCB before Tara Norris' five-for
RCB stutter in their chase despite having the firepower of Smriti Mandhana, Sophie Devine, Ellyse Perry and Heather Knight
RCB stutter in their chase despite having the firepower of Smriti Mandhana, Sophie Devine, Ellyse Perry and Heather Knight
Scorer: K Vairavan & Ranjith P | Commentator: @PeterDellaPenna
6.47 pm RCB never stood a chance once Tara Norris listed on the team sheet for Delhi Capitals. Shafali Verma and Meg Lanning set up the victory with a century partnership in which both passed 50. But then they stepped aside for Tara Norris to take center stage in the chase, wiping out half the RCB lineup. A dominant win for Delhi. Generous of Norris to allow her teammates an opportunity to take three wickets.
RCB captain Smriti Mandhana: "Definitely not the start we wanted. We gave 20-30 runs extra. We'll think about our plans and come back stronger tomorrow. As a pace bowling unit, we didn't go pace off like Delhi did so that's one thing we need to think of and work on. We are used to playing in other franchises back to back but for us to take positives out of this and things that didn't go our way, we have a few hours to think about it and come back stronger tomorrow. I don't think the pitch or wicket changed. Our batters, we all got starts but couldn't continue. Batters got starts like me and Heather but we couldn't take it over."
Delhi Captals allrounder Marianne Kapp: "That's the nice thing about being an allrounder. If you mess up with the ball, you can make up with the bat. I scored 50 runs all World Cup so it was nice to come out and hit the ball cleanly. Credit to our openers. That makes it so much easier. You can come out and play your natural game and just hit the ball. I think the fact that we started so well, having lost our openers one after the other, I was proud of the way we came in and played. It was my first game playing under Meg. Hopefully I can learn a lot and see how she does things."
Delhi Capitals captain Meg Lanning: "It was a great atmosphere out there and happy to get the win. Shafali was playing amazing out there. It was a lot of fun. We were smiling a lot of the time. That's the great thing about these competitions. You get to play with people you wouldn't play with normally, you get to have a lot of fun and you learn something. We felt it was a good score, but the wicket was so good that we knew we needed to bowl well."
The pride of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, Tara Norris is named Player of the Match for her five-wicket haul in the Delhi win: "Delighted. I think Meg and Shafali started fantastically with the bat to take a bit of the pressure off the bowlers. But yeah, really happy. I never thought I'd have an opportunity like this in my career so just to be here has been absolutely amazing. So I'm absolutely delighted. [Asked which was her favorite wicket] Probably the first was pretty special. Like I said, just to be here has been amazing. So the fact that I got a chance to play and have a bowl has been awesome."
That'll do it from live coverage of match one in today's doubleheader. Flip over to the feed for UP Warriorz v Gujarat Giants to follow along with the coverage from that contest beginning shortly. I'm Peter Della Penna, take care!
Sandeep : "I know IPL is Indian league to boost Indian players but for the sake of world cricket one associate player should be made compulsory." Hear hear!
RCB stutter in their chase despite having the firepower of Smriti Mandhana, Sophie Devine, Ellyse Perry and Heather Knight
She claimed the first five-wicket haul in the WPL, after being bought by Delhi Capitals at the base price of INR 10 lakh
This will be the first time such decisions will be reviewed in T20 leagues
Superstar captains. Interesting sub-plots. A sold-out crowd. There is all to play for at the Brabourne Stadium