Mumbai Indians down Delhi Capitals by eight wickets, secure third win on trot

Navi Mumbai: All-round Mumbai Indians asserted their supremacy in the Women’s Premier League with an eight-wicket thrashing of Delhi Capitals in a top-of-the-table clash here on Thursday.

Saika Ishaque, Isabelle Wong and Hayley Matthews — each with three wickets apiece — led Mumbai Indians’ charge with the ball to bundle out Delhi Capitals for a mere 105 in 18 overs.

With a small target to chase, Mumbai romped home to their third win in a row in 15 overs with captain Harmanpreet Kaur (11 not out) and Nat Sciver-Brunt (23 not out) taking them past the finish line. Chasing 106, the opening pair of Yastika Bhatia (41) and Hayley Matthews (32) knocked off 47 runs in the powerplay and shared 65 runs for the first wicket to ensure a big win for their team.

For Delhi, it was their first loss of the inaugural season. Yastika played her most convincing innings in the tournament so far, with the hard-hitting Matthews also cashing in on the bad deliveries. Yastika clobbered eight fours to record her highest score in the WPL while Matthews, coming off a match-winning 77 not out, looked unhurried in her 31-ball stay with six fours.

After a watchful start, Matthews unleashed three consecutive fours off Shikha Pandey in the fourth over and Yastika joined in soon, smacking Marizanne Kapp for three fours in the next over to keep Mumbai in complete command of the proceedings.

Tara Norris provided some respite for Delhi in the ninth over, pinning Yastika in front of the wickets with the batter also exhausting a DRS appeal. And when it looked like the pair of Matthews and Nat Sciver-Brunt would take Mumbai to a second consecutive nine-wicket win, Delhi vice-captain Jemimah Rodrigues produced a brilliant athletic catch running in from long off to end the Caribbean batter’s stay, off Jess Jonassen.

The first meeting between arguably the two best teams in the WPL turned out to be a damp squib.

It was a day of collective failure with both bat and ball for the Meg Lanning-led Delhi. Lanning’s 43 was the highest individual total of the innings while her deputy Rodrigues’ scored 25.

The uncapped Ishaque continued her stellar run in the tournament while Wong and Matthews also played a crucial role in bringing down the high-flying Delhi Capitals. Delhi, who had amassed totals in excess of 200 in both their matches, crumbled against disciplined and probing Mumbai bowlers with the bat, in a high-pressure contest.

Ishaque was once again the hero as the left-arm spinner accounted for Lanning, Shafali Verma (2) and Rodrigues to take her wicket tally to nine in three matches — the most in the tournament.

The only bright spot for Delhi was the 50-run stand for the fourth wicket between Lanning and Rodrigues, but once their resistance was broken, the Capitals slipped further as they lost four wickets in nine balls for just three runs.

To their credit, Mumbai bowled tight lines to not allow Delhi batters to get away, with the batting side managing just six fours in the first 10 overs, and an overall nine fours and a six in their entire innings.