SCOREBOARD

ith a fine display of the asphyxiating properties of a good spin attack, Smriti Mandhanaled Royal Challengers Bangalore beat Delhi Capitals by eight wickets to lift its maiden Women’s Premier League title at the Arun

WJaitley Stadium

Sunday.

Jonathan Batty, Meg Lanning and batting first — time and again this combination has proved futile in league finals in the Women’s Big Bash League and even in last year’s WPL final which DC lost to Mumbai Indians. Lanning and Shafali Verma looked like they were batting on two different wickets. Where Shafali was striking the ball clean, Lanning looked tenhere on tative right from the third ball of the innings where miscommunication nearly saw her lose her wicket. With Shafali taking charge, DC got to 61 in the PowerPlay, the joint best tally in the first six overs this season. However, Sophie Molineux was the outofsyllabus question that left the league leader in tatters.

She removed Shafali Verma (holed out to Georgia Wareham at deep midwicket), Jemimah Rodrigues (who got on one knee to sweep missing the ball completely as it hit the stumps) and Alice Capsey (a brain fade that saw her trying to scoop the ball only to lose her stumps) in the span of four balls.

Seeing the purchase Molineux got from the wicket, Smriti stuck to spin, bringing her deathovers combo of Shreyanka Patil and Asha Sobhana into play. As she did a week ago, Shreyanka got Lanning trapped leg before yet again, with the ball headed straight for her middle stump. From there on, DC slipped deeper into the quicksand, finally folding for 113 with nine balls left unfaced, its lower order’s batting hiccups proving to be its Achilles’ heel yet again.

Smriti’s ploy to strangulate with spin was spot on. RCB’s four tweakers gave away only 62 runs, bowling 35 dot balls between them.

What particularly hurt DC was the period between the 7th and the 14th over (7.4 overs to be precise) which saw no boundaries.

Lanning, with her poker face on, did not let RCB have it easy. Sophie Devine and Smriti got off to a confident start putting on 49 runs before Shikha Pandey got Devine in the ninth over. Lanning bowled out her premiere pace options — Marizanne Kapp and Shikha — within the first 12 overs, potentially looking for their wickettaking form to come through. The pair did well to keep things tight, bowling 26 dot balls in total and giving away 33 runs.

Jess Jonassen was introduced only in the 14th over with RCB needing 42 off as many deliveries. Smriti’s offspin weakness got the better of her as Minnu Mani sent her back. If the target wasn’t so low, this fielding effort would have been a masterclass in how to de

DELHI CAPITALS

Meg Lanning lbw b Shreyanka 23 (23b, 3x4), Shafali Verma c Wareham b Molineux 44 (27b,

2x4, 3x6), Jemimah Rodrigues b Molineux 0 (2b), Alice Capsey b Molineux 0 (1b), Marizanne Kapp c Devine b Asha 8 (16b), Jess Jonassen c Smriti b Asha 3 (11b), Radha Yadav run out 12 (9b, 2x4), Minnu Mani lbw b Shreyanka 5 (3b, 1x4), Arundhati Reddy b Shreyanka 10 (13b), Shikha Pandey (not out) 5 (5b), Taniya Bhatia c Richa b Shreyanka 0 (1b); Extras (w-3): 3; Total (in 18.3 overs): 113.

FALL OF WICKETS

1-64 (Shafali, 7.1 overs), 2-64 (Jemimah, 7.3), 3-64 (Capsey, 7.4), 4-74 (Lanning, 10.4), 5-80 (Kapp, 13.1), 6-81 (Jonassen, 13.3), 7-87 (Minnu, 14.1), 8-101 (Radha, 16.2), 9-113 (Arundhati, 18.2).

RCB BOWLING

Renuka 2-0-28-0, Molineux 4-0-20-3, Perry 2-0-14-0, Devine 1-0-9-0, Wareham 3-0-16-0, Shreyanka 3.3-0-12-4, Asha 3-0-14-2.

ROYAL CHALLENGERS Smriti Mandhana c Arundhati b Minnu 31 (39b, 3x4), Sophie Devine lbw b Shikha 32 (27b, 5x4, 1x6), Ellyse Perry (not out) 35 (37b, 4x4), Richa Ghosh (not out) 17 (14b, 2x4); Total (for two wkts. in 19.3 overs): 115.

FALL OF WICKETS

1-49 (Devine, 8.1), 2-82 (Smriti, 14.6).

CAPITALS BOWLING

Kapp 4-0-20-0, Capsey 3-0-13-0, Shikha 4-0-11-1, Radha 1-0-18-0, Arundhati 3.3-0-26-0, Jonassen 2-0-15-0, Minnu 2-0-12-1.

Toss: Delhi Capitals.

RCB won by eight wickets with three balls to spare.

fend with Test intensity in a T20 game by Lanning and Co., but 113 was far too less even for the genius of the world’s most decorated leader.

In what tied the win up with a perfect bow, Richa — who, a week ago, was reduced to tears when she couldn’t see out a win against the same opponent — hit the winning runs.

TIMBER!

SHIV KUMAR PUSHPAKAR Slippery slope: After a sizzling start, Capitals lost three wickets at the score of 64, including that of Jemimah’s.

SHIV KUMAR PUSHPAKAR

Stars of the night: After Molineux, centre, started the slide by picking up three wickets in an over and Shreyanka took over, Perry guided the team home in a tricky chase.