NEW DELHI: In front of a vociferous nearly-packed Arun Jaitley stadium, Sunday night was about celebrating the youth of Indian women’s cricket. If
Jemimah Rodrigues
offered the pleasure of watching clean T20 batting with her 36-ball 58,
Richa Ghosh
was a show of brutal power-hitting with her 29-ball 51. In the end, Jemimah’s effort helped Delhi Capitals prevail over Richa’s late onslaught as Royal Challengers Bangalore fell short of Capitals’ 181/5 by just one run.
It meant Capitals secured a place in the top-three in the
WPL
.
Richa nearly did an encore of Harmanpreet Kaur’s extraordinary chase the previous night but she fell short of the crease in the last ball of the 20th over. She made a mockery of the big boundary on one side even with 17 runs needed off the final over bowled by the experienced left-arm spinner Jess Jonassen.
Richa’s distraught pictures at the end may go viral but the night was dominated by Jemimah. It’s hard to miss Jemimah on a cricket field. When her contagious energy, classy touch with the bat and game awareness come together, Jemimah becomes an unstoppable force. And it did on Sunday night as Delhi Capitals reaped benefits.
The stadium was about 75 percent full and the biggest cheers usually came for RCB. However, Jemimah decided to put on a show that set the tone for Capitals’ to put up a commanding total of 181/5. Her knock of 58 runs off 36 balls was a masterclass in clean T20 batting. Her ability to find gaps with impeccable timing played with RCB captain Smriti Mandhana’s field. The innings may have just one six in it but that was enough to announce the efficacy of the vertical bat.
Jemimah found an able partner in
Alice Capsey
. The duo added 97 runs off 61 balls for the third wicket. If Jemimah dominated with her touch play, Capsey added muscle to the partnership with a 48 off just 32 balls. The partnership negated Shreyanka Patil’s spell of 4/26. It was an intelligent stand which played out Asha Sobhana’s spell of wily leg-spin before taking on the rest of the RCB attack.
RCB’s chase suffered a jolt up front when Mandhana was trapped in front by Capsey for just five. Even as Jemimah moved around like a livewire to patrol the bigger side of the boundary, Capitals’ sloppy fielding kept RCB in the hunt. Elisse Perry cashed in and threatened to run away with the game before falling short of the crease while attempting a single while batting on 49 off just 32 balls.
Jemimah’s energy across the turf right through the chase didn’t let the Capitals lose the plot even when Sophie Devine and Richa Ghosh demonstrated some brutal hitting with a partnership of 49 runs to keep the chase on track.
Brief scores: Delhi Capitals 181/5 (J Rodrigues 58, A Capsey 48; S Patil 4/26) beat Royal Challengers Bangalore 180/7 (R Ghosh 51, E Perry 49; M Kapp 1/30)
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