Meg Lanning reacts after her team loses the WPL opener on the final ball of the match

Delhi Capitals Women’s skipper Meg Lanning had words of encouragement for her players after the runners-up from the inaugural Women’s Premier League season lost season 2’s opening clash against reigning champions Mumbai Indians Women in the final ball of the match last night. Lanning claimed that it was a reasonable effort from her side and hoped they would come back better going forward.

Following a star-studded opening ceremony of the latest WPL season in Bengaluru’s M. Chinnaswamy stadium, which saw the likes of Shah Rukh Khan and Shahid Kapoor among others perform, Meg Lanning and Harmanpreet Kaur led Delhi and Mumbai lock horns against each other with the former team batting first in a tailor-made track for batting.

Shafali Verma goes flop while Alice Capsey and Jemimah Rodrigues produce sensational knocks

The Delhi Capitals lost both of their openers Shafali Verma and Meg Lanning within the 11th over with 1 and 31 respectively. Shafali was the first to depart in the second ball of the 3rd over with a clean bowled from Shabnim Ismail.

Number 3 batter Alice Capsey who is known for her aggression, stood for a 64-run partnership with Lanning before Jemimah Rodrigues arrived at the expense of her captain who got out after giving a simple catch to Nat-Sciver Brunt.

Then started the Alice Capsey show who recklessly tormented the MI bowlers, smacking 3 big sixes and scoring 8 boundaries. She found the support of Indian international Jemimah who played at a daunting strike rate of 175, which was more than Capsey’s 141. The duo stood for a 74-run partnership for the 3rd wicket before Capsey departed for 75 off 53 in the 17th over when Delhi were at 141.

8 balls and 14 runs later, Jemimah received her marching orders for 42 off 24 before Marizanne Kapp provided the finishing touches with her 16 off 9. In response, Meg Lanning’s side started quite well as they got the crucial wicket of the dangerous Hayley Matthews for a duck in only the 2nd ball of the first over.

But Nat-Sciver Brunt and Yastika Bhatia made a fifty-run stand by the 7th over with Sciver Brunt getting out for 19 runs while Bhatia stood on, scored a half-century, and got out in the 13th over. MI were at 106 when Bhatia departed and they required a couple of big shots for recovery that was provided by Harmanpreet Kaur (55 off 34) and Amelia Kerr (24 off 18).

12 runs were required from the last over and Alice Capsey who shone with the bat, earned DC the breakthrough of Pooja Vastrakar in the first ball before conceding 7 runs from the next 3 balls and then sending back the eventual player of the match winner Harmanpreet Kaur in the 5th ball.

However, in the final ball, number 8 batter Sajeevan Sajana smacked picked up Capsey’s full-length delivery, and sent it to the stands to help MI earn two points and start the new season with an emphatic win.

“We thought it was about par”, Meg Lanning on the target DC posted

While speaking in the post-match presentation, Meg Lanning who has won 10 major ICC silverware during her time with the Australia national team, claimed that 170+ was a decent score on a batting-friendly surface but emphasized that DC could have amassed 10-20 runs extra. Lanning seemed quite proud of the effort and promised that they would bounce back in the coming matches.

“We thought it was about par. We would have loved a few more. We bowled really well to take it to the last ball, but it was not to be today. We executed well for the most part. It was a reasonable effort but we need to get better as the tournament goes on.” – Meg Lanning said via Jio Cinema.