Delhi Capitals hammer Mumbai Indians to climb above rivals on net run rate

Mumbai inflicted a similarly comprehensive win on Delhi earlier in the tournament, but the brutality of this win sent Capitals above MI heading into the last round of group games

Nick Friend | 20/03/2023 at 16:20

Mumbai: Mumbai Indians 109-8, Delhi Capitals 110-1 - Delhi Capitals win by nine wickets

Delhi Capitals exacted revenge on Mumbai Indians to ensure that the top two teams in the Women's Premier League traded comprehensive victories in the group stage.

Capitals restricted MI to just 109 for 8, before chasing down their target with ease, jumping above them courtesy of net run rate and increasing the likelihood - with a single round of fixtures remaining - of Delhi bypassing the playoffs to head straight into the final. When they met earlier in the competition, Mumbai chased down 106 in just 15 overs.

On this occasion, though, MI were never really in the contest after a new-ball burst from Marizanne Kapp and Shikha Pandey reduced Charlotte Edwards' team to 10 for 3 in the fourth over.

Kapp had Yastika Bhatia caught behind for one and cleaned up Nat Sciver-Brunt first ball, before Pandey forced the exit of Matthews for five in 10 balls through a terrific catch from Jemimah Rodrigues at mid-on.

Arundhati Reddy then enticed Amelia Kerr to edge behind for Taniya Bhatia's second catch.

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^{Marizanne Kapp took two key wickets for Delhi (Pankaj Nangia/Getty Images)}

Pooja Vastrakar (26) and Harmanpreet Kaur (23) attempted a rebuild, but allrounder Vastrakar fell to Jess Jonassen, who also accounted for Issy Wong (23) who did at least help MI into three figures.

But only when Poonam Yadav bowled a single over of leg-spin did MI assert their authority, and a final total demanding under six runs per over was never likely to be challenging.

And so that came to pass: not for the first time, Shafali Verma and Meg Lanning made hay, taking down Sciver-Brunt and Wong in the powerplay as Capitals chased a victory inside 11 overs that they knew would move them above MI into top spot, with the group winners going straight through to the inaugural WPL final.

Verma eventually fell for 33 off 15 balls, stumped off Matthews' off-spin, but she had long since broken the back of a meagre chase. Alice Capsey (38*) continued the assault, whacking Matthews for two sixes in an over as Delhi cantered to their target in just nine overs.