Dominant Mumbai Indians thrash high-flying Delhi Capitals to extend winning streak

Mumbai Indians continued showcasing their dominance at the Women’s Premier League when they locked horns against the in-form Delhi Capitals in the seventh match of the tournament. Both teams had been unbeaten before crossing swords at the Dr. DY Patil Stadium in Navi Mumbai, but the Harmanpreet Kaur-led Mumbai handed Meg Lanning-led Delhi their first defeat of the tournament, thereby extending their winning streak to three.

Thanks to the brilliant 65-run opening partnership between Hayley Matthews and Yastika Bhatia during the chase, Mumbai Indians clinched a magnificent eight wicket victory. In the previous two games, Hayley Matthews handed Mumbai the desired start, but this time around, Yastika Bhatia found her rhythm and led the charge.

Mumbai were off to a dominating start in their chase as Matthews and Bhatia added 47 runs in the powerplay. On the very first ball after the powerplay, the duo stitched up their 50-run stand as Delhi Capitals bowlers were left stranded for the first breakthrough. Tara Norris got the crucial breakthrough when she dismissed Bhatia in the ninth over, but since the target was low, the wicket did not bother Mumbai much.

The first wicket led to Mumbai losing the momentum in the game, and a brilliant diving catch by Jemimah Rodrigues led to Matthews finding her way back to the dugout. Nat Sciver and skipper Harmanpreet Kaur took the onus of scoring the big runs, and as a result, Mumbai Indians chased the target in the 15 overs, with 30 balls to spare.

Delhi Capitals fail to go big

Earlier in the game, Lanning elected to field first as Kaur’s bad luck at the toss continued. Though the toss did not go their way, Mumbai were into the business from the word go. As Lanning and Shafali Verma opened the innings for Delhi, the leading wicket-taker of the tournament- Mumbai’s spinner Saika Ishaque got her side the first breakthrough by dismissing Verma in just the second over.

Alice Capsey joined Meg Lanning on the crease, but the duo failed to fire. Before the end of the powerplay, Pooja Vastrakar struck to claim her first wicket as she dismissed Capsey in the sixth over. Marizanne Kapp too failed to put up a show and had to walk back on the fourth ball that she faced. Lanning led from the front with her 41-ball 43, but her wicket led to Delhi facing a collapse.

Jess Jonassen, Taniya Bhatia, Minnu Mani, Shikha Pandey, and Tara Norris all combined could put together only 10 runs as Mani and Norris were dismissed for a duck. Contributions from Rodrigues, and Radha Yadav towards the end, helped Delhi post 106 runs on board in 18 overs before being dished out. The target surely was below par, and not enough for Mumbai Indians as Harmanpreet Kaur & Co clinched their third win on the trot to maintain their place on top of the WPL points table.