Watch: Shabnim Ismail flattens Shafali Verma's middle stump to claim 1st wicket of WPL 2024

Mumbai Indians Women pacer Shabnim Ismail rattled the stumps of the Delhi Capitals Women opener Shafali Verma to claim the first wicket of the second season of the Women’s Premier League (WPL 2024).

The Women’s Premier League 2024 commenced on Friday, February 23, at the M Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bengaluru. Shah Rukh Khan set the stage on fire with an electrifying performance in the opening ceremony along with Sidharth Malhotra, Tiger Shroff, Varun Dhawan, and Shahid Kapoor.

After the grand ceremony, the action got underway and the defending champions Mumbai Indians Women won the toss and elected to field first. The Mumbai Indians Women bowlers did a fantastic job in the match and didn’t let the star opening duo of Shafali Verma and Meg Lanning play quickfire innings.

Verma came under pressure as she wasn’t able to hit the ball for the boundaries and ended up losing her wicket on the first ball of the 3rd over, which was bowled by Shabnim Ismail.

The veteran pace bowler bowled a length delivery that was angled into the middle stump and nipped back in off the seam. Shafali cleared her front leg and went for a wild slog only to see her stumps getting destroyed. Shafali Verma was forced to go back to the hut after scoring 1 run off 8 deliveries. At the end of the third over, Delhi Capitals were under tremendous pressure and they were at 6/1.

Watch: Shabnim Ismail claims the first wicket of WPL 2024

CASTLED! 🎯

Shabnim Ismail with a spectacular delivery to claim the first wicket of Season 2 🔥🔥#TATAWPL | #MIvDC | @mipaltan pic.twitter.com/H7TBL0Klre

— Women's Premier League (WPL) (@wplt20) February 23, 2024

After the early wicket of Verma, the responsibility fell on the skipper and legendary batter Meg Lanning to take her side to a big score. So far the DC-W skipper has done an amazing job and is batting really well alongside youngster Alice Capsey, who was also very impressive with the bat in the inaugural edition of the Women’s Premier League (WPL).

Earlier, while speaking at the toss Meg Lanning stated that the pitch was great to bat on. She further said that they have prepared really well for the competition and are looking forward to the challenge.

While talking about Mumbai Indians Women, the DC skipper stated that they are a good side and their captain Harmanpreet Kaur is a good competitor.

“It looks like a good wicket, plenty of runs in it. Mumbai are a good side, looking forward to the challenge. I am really looking forward to this tournament. Preparations have been good, squad is well settled, just need to play with freedom. We are going with four seamers and three spinners, some good options throughout the innings. She (Harmanpreet) is a competitor, looking forward to this game.”

Mumbai Indians Women (Playing XI): Hayley Matthews, Nat Sciver-Brunt, Harmanpreet Kaur(c), Yastika Bhatia(w), Amelia Kerr, Amanjot Kaur, S Sajana, Pooja Vastrakar, Shabnim Ismail, Keerthana Balakrishnan, Saika Ishaque

Delhi Capitals Women (Playing XI): Shafali Verma, Meg Lanning(c), Alice Capsey, Jemimah Rodrigues, Marizanne Kapp, Annabel Sutherland, Arundhati Reddy, Minnu Mani, Taniya Bhatia(w), Radha Yadav, Shikha Pandey

At the time of writing this report, the Delhi Capitals Women were at 64/1 in 9.2 overs with Meg Lanning and Alice Capsey going strong against the Mumbai Indians Women.