On Tuesday, Delhi Capitals secured a spot in the Women’s Premier League (WPL) 2023 final after a dominant win over UP Warriorz.
Alice Capsey delivered an outstanding all-around performance by taking three wickets and smashing a 31-ball 34 to lead Delhi Capitals to a five-wicket victory, chasing a target of 139 runs.
The win allowed Delhi Capitals to top the table and qualify directly for the final, ahead of Mumbai Indians on net run rate.
Meanwhile, Mumbai Indians and UP Warriorz will compete in an eliminator to determine the other finalist.
Earlier in the day, Mumbai Indians defeated Royal Challengers Bangalore by four wickets, which put Delhi Capitals in the position where they had to not only win their game against UPW but also maintain a better run-rate.
Delhi Capitals restricted UPW to a modest total of 138 for six after winning the toss and opting to bowl.
Delhi Capitals’ opening pair of Meg Lanning and Shafali Verma then launched a boundary-hitting spree, scoring 56 runs off 29 balls.
Lanning started the innings off with three fours and a six in the first over off Shabnim Ismail, while Shafali hit four boundaries in her 16-ball 21-run cameo.
DC slumped to 70 for three after Soppadhandi Yashasri caught Shafali off Sophie Ecclestone’s bowling, Ismail returned to trap Jemimah Rodrigues, and then Lanning was caught by Simran Shaikh in the deep.
However, Capsey’s batting heroics kept DC in the hunt by producing three boundaries in four balls off Ecclestone.
Parshavi Chopra was then deposited over the fence before Capsey slog-swept Deepti Sharma past the mid-wicket area for another boundary as DC reached their 100 in 12 overs.
Marizanne Kapp (34 not out off 31) smashed another maximum as DC reached 130 for three in 16 overs.
Ecclestone managed to send back Capsey after two balls, while a mix-up cost Jess Jonassen’s wicket, but Kapp kept her cool to hit the winning runs.
Earlier, Tahila McGrath’s 32-ball unbeaten 58, which included eight boundaries and two sixes, helped UP Warriorz to get closer to the 140-mark.
UPW had a promising start to the game with Shweta Sehrawat hitting four boundaries quickly.
Sehrawat, India’s highest run-scorer in the U-19 T20 World Cup triumph, failed to open the batting for UPW in their first two games and was eventually pushed down the order and out the XI.
But in this game, she was back at the top of the order and off to a good start.
Unfortunately, Sehrawat went for one shot too many and was caught out for 19 off 12 balls, with Radha Yadav striking with her first delivery.
Alyssa Healy (36 off 34) provided a good platform for UPW, but she was stumped in the 10th over when she danced down to Capsey.
McGrath then slowly built her innings but kept losing partners from the other end. Radha Yadav (2/28) and Jess Jonassen (1/24) were the other wicket-takers for Delhi Capitals.
