Vadodara : Delhi Capitals came out on top and savoured success with a seven-wicket victory in a final over thriller against the UP Warriorz in the ongoing Women's Premier League at Kotambi Stadium on Wednesday.
Delhi Capitals returned to winning ways after enduring a heavy defeat against the defending champions, Royal Challengers Bengaluru, in their previous match. The defeat meant UP Warriorz had to wait for another day to take away their first victory of the season.
In pursuit of a modest 167-run target, the Capitals opening pair of Shafali Verma and skipper Meg Lanning were quick off the blocks in the powerplay.They hammered the UP Warriorz bowling attack and finished the powerplay strongly with a score of 59/0. The Capitals sustained their first blow right after the powerplay when Shafali (38) miscued her attempt to slog the ball away.
In the preceding over, Sophie Ecclestone made short work of Jemimah Rodrigues by punching her return ticket to the dressing room for a two-ball duck. Lanning continued to ride high on momentum and blazed her way to fifty. Her 49-run partnership with Annabel Sutherland kept the Capitals on track and UP Warriorz at bay.
Grace Harris delivered the much-needed breakthrough with a tossed-up delivery to break through Lanning's (69) stance and send the ball crashing into the stumps. Fieldign woes continued to haunt UP Warriorz as Marizanne Kapp and Sutherland continued to take the Capitals closer to victory. Sutherland (41* from 35 balls) was dropped once, while Kapp (29* from 17 deliveres) received two lifelines as DC chased down the target with one ball to spare.
Earlier in the match, DC continued the trend of otping to bowl after winning the toss. After being put to bat, UP Warriorz were swift in their approach. Kiran Navgire smashed her way to a 24-ball fifty before UP Warriorz faced a batting order collapse. From 66/0 UP, Warriorz slipped to 82/4, courtesy of Annabel Sutherland striking twice, with Minnu Mani and Jess Jonassen picking up a scalp each.
UP Warriorz's inning was resurrected by Swetha Sehrawat's 37(33) and Chinelle Henry's 33* from 15 deliveries. The Capitals staged a fierce counterattack in the final three overs. They conceded just 16 runs to restrict UP Warriroz to 166/7.