DC wins humdinger to go top of table
NEW DELHI: Richa Ghosh hit two monstrous sixes but paid the price for her poor fitness as Delhi Capitals found her short of crease to win a cliffhanger against Royal Challengers by a solitary run in the Women’s Premier League on Sunday.
Needing 17 off last over to reach a target of 182, Richa, who blasted 51 off 29 balls, smote left-arm spinner Jess Jonassen for a 78 metre straight six and another maximum off the penultimate delivery to bring the equation down to two runs off the final delivery.
However Richa, not exactly known for being the fittest among Indian cricketers despite brute power in her strokes, wasn’t fast enough to beat Jonassen, who whipped the bails off in a flash to restrict RCB to 180 for 7. DC, with its fifth win, is now on 10 points and leads the table due to superior net run-rate (+0.918) compared to Mumbai Indians (+.343).
Needing 28 off final two overs, Shikha Pandey conceded couple of boundaries but removed Georgia Wareham, leaving left-arm spinner Jonassen to defend 17 in the final over.
Earlier, Jemimah Rodrigues displayed her complete mastery over slow bowlers with a 26-ball half-century that propelled Delhi Capitals to a competitive 181 for 5. However, young off-spinner Shreyanka Patil grabbed four for 26 in her four overs and was brilliant at the business end of the DC innings to put brakes on the home team’s scoring.
BRIEF SCORES: Delhi Capitals 181/5 in 20 overs (J Rodrigues 58, A Capsey 48, S Patil 4/26) bt RCB 180/7 in 20 overs (E Perry 49, R Ghosh 51)