Australia’s Meg Lanning just can’t seem to find a way to lay her hands on the Women’s Premier League trophy. On Saturday, Delhi Capitals Women lost to Mumbai Indians in what was their third consecutive loss in the WPL finals. Harmanpreet Kaur-led Mumbai Indians won back their prized possession after beating DC by 8 runs.
Lanning’s WPL curse continues
A gutted Lanning couldn’t help but watch on as MI celebrated their victory. The Australian has achieved it all in the international arena – leading Australia to five World Cup titles, including four T20 WC (2014, 2018, 2020 and 2023) and one ODI WC (2022). Yet, she hasn’t managed to find a way to lead DC to their maiden WPL title.
On all three occasions when Lanning’s DC have lost in the finals, it was in an heartbreaking fashion. In 2023, MI defeated Lanning and co. by 7 wickets to be crowned maiden WPL champions. The following year, RCB handed a 8-wicket defeat to DC, with just three balls left to spare. Now, MI have done it once again with a 8-wicket win.
“It has been different each time around. We are bitterly disappointed, we feel like put ourselves into a good position to win but that’s the game, you win some, you lose some and unfortunately we have been on the wrong side,” Lanning said after the defeat.
MI vs DC recapped
Mumbai Indians fought back after a poor start thanks to Harmanpeet Kaur’s 44-ball 66. Her 89-run stand with Nat Sciver-Burnt helped Mumbai rescue from 20/2 in the powerplay. Marizanne Kapp gave Delhi a great start, bagging 2/11 in her four overs. In the end, despite losing 4 wickets in quick succession, Mumbai managed to put 149/7 in 20 overs.
Despite the small total, Meg Lanning was removed early by Nat Sciver-Brunt as the score read 15/1 after 2 overs. Soon DC went on to lose two more for just 37 runs. That trend continued till the very end as Delhi just could not get the partnerships going. Eventually they lost the final by 8 runs,
