A brilliant 29-ball 51 by Richa Ghosh and Shreyanka Patil‘s four-wicket haul went in vain as Delhi Capitals defeated Royal Challengers Bangalore in a last ball thriller on Sunday (March 10) to secure their playoff berth.
Despite Patil having a strong finish with the ball, Jemimah Rodrigues‘ 36-ball 58 and Alice Capsey’s 48 off 32 helped the Capitals achieve 181/5. Ellyse Perry, Sophie Molineux, and Sophie Devine of the RCB, who are overseas players, made vital contributions to the chase, but the Capitals still had the upper hand. Despite a fantastic knock from Ghosh to cut the deficit to two off the last ball, her side was unable to cross the finish line, and RCB was left perilously positioned on the points table.
DC Innings
The Capitals’ openers, who combined for seven fours and a six during the powerplay, put up a good opening stand. Giving just 16 runs from their first three overs RCB’s bowlers were quiet efficient. The game’s turning point occurred in the fourth when Meg Lanning entered the fray and hit four fours off Renuka Singh, who gave up twenty.
Shafali Verma was dismissed by Asha Sobhana in her first over of the seventh over, as the batsman attempted a wide swing at the ball and sliced a catch to point. This ended the opening partnership. Despite the wickets falling, the Capitals did not let the scoring rate dip as Jemimah Rodrigues and Alice Capsey replaced the openers to keep the pressure on the RCB.
With 47 coming in the final five overs, the Capitals managed to post a total of 180+, even with a strong bowling effort from Patil.
Chase by RCB
It was a new opening combination in the form of Smriti Mandhana and Molineux since Sabbhineni Meghana was left out and Sophie Devine was given the middle-order position. With Molineux hitting a beautiful four-point drive off Marizanne Kapp and Mandhana hitting a backfoot punch off Capsey for a boundary, things looked hopeful. However, the alliance was short-lived as Capsey trapped the RCB captain in front for five runs when she mistimed a flick.
Ellyse Perry gave the much-needed powerr punch to the chase as she found the boundaries quite frequently and pulled Jess Jonassen for a big six, taking RCB to 42/1 at the end of the powerplay.
At one run shy of a half-century, Perry was run out, taking the second wicket partnership to 80. Molineux got out to Arundhati on 33 after slicing a catch to sweeper cover, causing another blow for RCB. After she was sent back, Taniya Bhatia was unable to lower the bails when Devine was not far from the crease. After fifteen, she took advantage of the miss, smashing two sixes and a four off Radha to move RCB to 125/3.
Richa Ghosh and Wareham each hit a boundary off Pandey after 28 needed from last 12 balls, the Australia all-rounder was bowled out for a low full toss, leaving RCB requiring 17 off the final over.
When Ghosh hit a six clearing the midwicket boundary, bringing her to a fifty off 28 balls, it was left to 8 off 2. With 2 needed off last ball, she was only able to hit the final ball to point and was caught short of the crease trying to make a single. Capitals won the thrilling game to reclaim the top spot in the standings.
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