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When the captain of one’s franchise is a five-time World Cup winner across white-ball formats, a little arrogance is understandable and, honestly, expected. Meg Lanning did not disappoint as she led the Delhi Capitals a walk-in-the-park 42-run win, their second on the trot, against UP Warriorz at the DY Patil Stadium here on Tuesday.
After Alyssa Healy won the toss and opted to bowl, the broadcasters asked Lanning what she would have done if she had won. “I don’t really care,” came the response and the nonchalance foreshadowed what the Warriorz were in for over the next four odd hours.
Lanning’s continued on from the first game as she made her second fifty in two games with a fluent 40-ball 70. While Shafali Verma (17) and Marizanne Kapp (16) couldn’t convert their starts, Delhi had a comfortable run-rate of 10 almost throughout their innings. Jemimah Rodrigues fell back to anchoring the Delhi innings, but it was a fiery 20-ball 40 from Jess Jonassen that provided a late flourish to get Delhi to a 200+ score yet again – finishing with 211 on the board.
Even a brief rain interruption couldn’t help UP bowlers swing momentum in their favour, as Delhi scored 21 fours and nine sixes.
Warriorz’s shock decision to swap out Grace Harris for Shabnim Ismail only helped Lanning’s cause. While she came away with a wicket, Healy’s decision to use up three of her four overs up front blunted her potency as an express pace threat, leaving her little space to work with the middle order.
In response, Healy took matters into her own hands as she gave UP a brisk start, but that innings ended quickly when Jonassen took the pace off and Radha completed the catch at point. Shweta Sehrawat looked uneasy throughout her stay at the crease, falling for one run, while Kiran Navgire’s old weakness of going aerial far too soon caught up with her.
Tahlia McGrath, who looked primed to be the one to sit out for Shabnim, underlined her utility to the side with the ball with a resilient 50-ball 90, but a lack of support from the middle order meant the task was a mile too far for her.
With over 100 runs needed from the last four overs, the match was as good as sealed in Delhi’s favour. Lanning was happy to experiment with bowlers she had not tried before, giving Arundathi Reddy the 20th over. Delhi finished with a 42-run win to cement its place in the second spot on the table, behind Mumbai Indians, which is ahead on a superior net run rate.
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