It’s been a strange old start to Delhi Capitals’ Women’s Premier League campaign. They huffed and puffed over the line, quite literally when it came to crossing the crease, against Mumbai Indians. They were off colour for large parts against Royal Challengers Bengaluru. And despite playing well for a significant amount of the match against the UP Warriorz on Wednesday in Vadodara, they once again left it uncomfortably late.
For a team that was arguably the strongest on paper before the tournament started, the start has been laboured, but having stumbled at the finish line for the first two years, maybe they are – as the cliche goes – looking to peak at the right time. And one of the more favourable signs in that regard was Meg Lanning’s most fluent knock of the tournament yet. With her signature off-side strokes, the captain struck a serene 69 off 49 balls, laced with 10 out of 12 boundaries coming on that side of the wicket, as DC beat UP Warriorz by 7 wickets to register their second win.
Sent into bat, UP Warriorz rode on opener Kiran Navgire’s quick-fire half-century to post 166/7. Lanning said later that with the start UPW had thanks to Navgire, she was expecting a much stiffer target to chase. But led by Annabel Sutherland’s 2/26 that saw her account for both the openers, DC pulled things back through the middle, even though Shweta Sehrawat and Chinelle Henry moved through the gears in the back overs, with the latter especially severe on Shikha Pandey.
The total was ultimately not enough as besides Lanning, Sutherland anchored the chase with a somewhat cagey 35-ball 41-run knock, before Marizanne Kapp’s crucial 29 not off 17 in the end. UPW were let down by their fielding once more, especially two fours conceded in the last over and a missed run out, which meant DC just crossed the finish line.
With 32 needed from the last three overs, Kapp brought the equation down by hitting Ecclestone for two consecutive boundaries. Then with 11 required off the last over, Sutherland struck two boundaries off Tahila McGrath to take her side home.
With this result, the Vadodara leg of WPL 2025 comes to a close. And from the early trends, DC would be happy to pick up two wins despite not playing their best cricket yet. Despite losing a fair share of starters from the last year, defending champions RCB have set the pace early on. MI have bounced back from a opening defeat too. But for UPW – and strugglers for last two years in Gujarat Giants – the early signs are not good.
