Bengaluru: Shafali Verma (44) and Jess Jonassen’s (61 not out) fireworks underlined Delhi Capitals’ complete domination as they crushed Gujarat Giants by six wickets in a one-sided Women’s Premier League match here Tuesday.
After Gujarat Giants limped to 127 for nine in the first half, Delhi knocked off the target in 15.1 overs with opener Shafali smashing a 27-ball 44 for her highest score of the season.
Delhi Capitals thus moved to the top spot in the points table with their third win in five matches but their net run rate remained in negative (-0.223) in the five-team competition.
It was a brisk 37-ball stand for the second wicket between Verma and Jonassen for 74 runs which provided Delhi Capitals the platform for the huge win, denting the Giants’ hopes of a fightback with the ball after they had removed Meg Lanning (3) early on in the chase.
Verma looked in her elements as she hammered three sixes and five fours before her charge was ended by Giants skipper Ashleigh Gardner who trapped her in front of the wickets.
Jonassen, however, remained unbeaten on 61 off 32 balls (9x4s, 2x6s) for her first half-century of the season.
The pair of Verma and Jonassen pulverised the Giants bowling attack to gather runs from all corners of the ground, indicating that the pitch did not have any demons as it appeared to be in the first half.
Gujarat Giants had slumped to 60 for six halfway through in the first half as the Delhi Capitals pace troika of Marizanne Kapp (2/17), Shikha Pandey (2/18) and Annabel Sutherland (2/20) took two wickets each to deny them any chance of putting up a competitive total on board.
The only minor blip in a near-perfect game for Delhi, however, came towards the end of the chase when they lost Jemimah Rodrigues (5) and Sutherland (1) in quick succession.
Earlier, Bharti Fulmali struck a vital 40 not out to drag Gujarat Giants past 125 after a disastrous start.
Fulmali, batting at No. 8, counter-attacked with two sixes and four fours to make her runs in 29 balls after Gujarat Giants were reduced to 60/6 halfway through their innings.
Deandra Dottin (26) hit five fours earlier in the innings but could not push on as Delhi Capitals’ bowlers produced a largely unified show.
Delhi pace duo of Marizanne Kapp (2/17) and Shikha Pandey (2/18) ran through the Giants top order, reducing them to 20/4 inside the power play.
On a wicket which had movement off the surface and bounce for the bowlers, Kapp began by finding the outside edge of Harleen Deol’s (5) bat and then pinned Phoebe Litchfield in front of the wickets for a duck.
In the fourth over, Pandey accounted for Beth Mooney (10) and Kashvee Gautam (0) in identical fashion, getting the two batters caught by Niki Prasad at deep backward square leg and deep midwicket respectively.
Titas Sadhu (1/15) then got one to nip back into Giants skipper Gardner (3) for the fifth breakthrough and Sutherland cleaned up Dottin to end her resistance in the 11th over.
