Delhi Capitals on Monday cruised to their first victory of the WPL 2024 when they beat UP Warriors by 9 wickets at the Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bengaluru. The Delhi Capitals were dominant with both bat and the ball. Radha Yadav starred with the ball with 4 wickets, restricting the UP Warriorz to 119. Chasing 120 runs, DC openers Shafali Verma and Meg Lanning scored half-centuries each to reach the target with over 5 overs to spare.
The UP Warriorz struggled right from the start of the match. Delhi Capitals won the toss and elected to bowl first. UP kept losing wickets right from the start, with stars such as Tahila McGrath and captain Alysa Healy going back to the pavillion without making much of an impact. Shweta Sehrawat was the only batter from the UP team to get herself going. Sehrawat played a patient innings of 45 of 42 ball to help UP move towards a respectable total of 119 in 20 overs.
Delhi Capitals were excellent on the bowling front, picking up wickets at regular intervals and ebbing the flow of runs. Left-arm orthodox Radha Yadav stood out among the DC bowlers, taking 4 wickets giving away just 20 runs in her four overs. South African all-rounder Marizanne Kapp also picked up 3 wickets with her medium pace bowling, giving just 5 runs away in four overs including a maiden.
The target wasn’t too much for the Delhi Capitals to chase, and they started in brisk fashion. Indian batter Shafali Verma and former Aussie captain Meg Lanning opened the batting for DC and started an aggressive onslaught to take the game away from the UPW.
Shafali was the more aggressive of the two, as Lanning assumed the role of the anchor. Shafali completed her 50 in just 36 balls although she had her share of luck in terms of missed catches. Lanning started playing her shots as well after a cautious start. They both scored half centuries to see out the game. However, with 1 run needed to win, Meg Lanning departed off the bowling of Sophie Ecclestone. Jemimah Rodrigues played only one ball to win the match with 33 balls to spare.