GGvDC Match Report
The DC tigresses recorded a complete 25-run win against the Gujarat Giants to end our Bengaluru leg of WPL 2024 on a high. With the third win on the trot at the M Chinnaswamy Stadium, we moved to the top of the table.
While Meg Lanning took charge with the bat, the performances of Jess Jonassen and Radha Yadav with the ball, as well as the economical spell of Shikha Pandey, led the team to victory.
Put into bat, Shafali Verma got going with a four and a six in the first over. However, she fell prey to Meghna Singh in the third over. Walking in at no.3, Capsey made sure that the momentum was taken forward right through the powerplay. We reached 51/1 at the end of the six-over mark.
Meghna Singh struck once again to dismiss Capsey for 27 off 17, leaving us at 58-2 at the end of the 7th over. Lanning breached the 9000 T20-run barrier and steadied the ship.
After being at 22 off 25 balls at one point, she quickly made up with a flurry of boundaries. She raced past her second fifty of the season, but was eventually dismissed for 55 off 41.
Jemimah Rodrigues got out in the very next over for seven runs, which saw Jess Jonassen join Annabel Sutherland on the crease. With the scoreboard reading 117/4 and 6 overs left, the duo chipped in a couple of cameos with Jess getting 11 off 7 and Annabel scoring 20 off 12.
Beyond this, the Giants’ bowlers kept plugging away with wickets, but a couple of boundaries from Shikha in the last over saw us finish at 163/8.
Moving onto the second innings, debutant Titas Sadhu started off with a maiden over against Beth Mooney. Shikha made use of the pressure created by the youngster and got rid of Laura Wolvaardt bowled with a beautiful inswinging delivery.
Jess Jonasssen started off her spell by foxing Beth Mooney on the second ball catching her in front of the stumps. She then got rid of Phoebe Litchfield in the same over as her spell made sure that Giants found themselves in a spot of bother at 41/3 at the end of powerplay.
Lanning’s spot-on captaincy saw her rotate her bowlers smartly and keep the pressure intact. Radha Yadav struck immediately in her first over as well, getting rid of Veda, reducing the opposition to 53/4. Gardner was the one foil keeping the opposition intact as the Giants were 72/4 at the halfway mark.
While Gardner’s counter attacking batting was putting us in some danger, it was Radha who had other plans. She struck again to send Kathryn Bryce back in the hut, leaving the Aussie all-rounder struggling for partners. It was Jess who finally got the better off Gardner getting her stumped for 40 off 31. That also meant that the left-arm spinner finished with three wickets in the match.
Gardner had pushed the Giants into a decent position of 104/5, with the opponents needing 60 off 36 balls. But from here on, Giants struggled to find their way to the target as our bowlers tightened the screws.
Radha got rid of Tanuja Kanwer in the 17th over, while Arundhati Reddy dismissed Tarannum Pathan. With three scalps in the match, Radha also reached seven wickets in the tournament, which saw her take the purple cap. Gujarat Giants eventually ended their innings at 138/8, leaving us with a 25-win margin.
Our next challenge sees us take on the Mumbai Indians on February 5 at the Arun Jaitley Stadium in New Delhi. With the WPL team all set to play at our home ground of Qila Kotla for the first time, there will be a buzz and excitement in the air.
