In the early going of Monday’s Women’s Premier League encounter at Navi Mumbai, South African bowler Marizanne Kapp struck twice in two deliveries to help Delhi Capitals limit Mumbai Indians to a meagre 109 for 8.
Mumbai was asked to bat in the top-of-the-table match, but they were only able to reach 10 for 3 in 3.3 overs as Kapp (2/13) took two wickets in quick succession in the third over. From that point on, they never recovered.
Pooja Vastrakar led Mumbai in scoring with 26 while Issy Wong and skipper Harmanpreet Kaur both scored 23.
The top partnership for Mumbai came from Kaur and Vastrakar’s 37 runs for the fifth wicket.
Yastika Bhatia (1) was forced to edge an in-swinging delivery to wicketkeeper Taniya Bhatia by Kapp before the following ball knocked Nat Sciver-stumps Brunt’s for a first-ball duck.
Kapp’s attempt at a hat-trick was unsuccessful because to Kaur’s strong defence. Mumbai was dealt another blow, though, when Hayley Matthews (5) was dismissed in the next over after the vivacious Jemimah Rodrigues made a superb one-handed catch at midfield off the bowling of Shikha Pandey.
Mumbai was in ruins when they reached 10 for 3 in the fourth over. From there, they limped to their lowest powerplay total of 19 for 3 before suffering another setback.
As Mumbai wickets continued to fall, Arundhati Reddy, who had just been introduced, struck in her sixth delivery to remove Amelia Kerr, who had given a wayward shot into Bhatia’s hands behind the stumps.
Then, out of nowhere, Vastrakar hit a six and a four as Mumbai scored 18 runs from the tenth over to reach 46 for four at the midway point.
Vastrakar was given the responsibility to take chances since Kaur needed to play sheet-anchor. As a result, she had a few more boundaries in the next over. Nevertheless, Jonassen ended her stay after dismissing her for 26 in the 12th over.
Even an in-form Kaur struggled to accelerate the tempo of Mumbai’s innings because runs were scarce. Jemimah took the catch at deep midwicket as she was attempting to find a boundary and had an easy dismissal.
After Kaur was dismissed, Mumbai were 74 for 6, and they scored 35 runs in the next five overs to surpass 100 runs.
For DC, Shikha Pandey and Jess Jonassen both contributed two wickets.
