WPL 2023: Shafali Verma-Mag Lanning blitz, Tara Norris five-for help Delhi Capitals crush Royal Challengers Bangalore by 60 runs | Cricket News – Times of India

NEW DELHI: Shafali Verma and skipper Mag Lanning‘s blistering fifties and Tara Norris‘ five-wicket haul saw Delhi Capitals kick off their Women’s Premier League (WPL) 2023 campaign on a resounding note, crushing Royal Challengers Bangalore by 60 runs at Brabourne Stadium in Mumbai on Sunday.
Delhi Capitals, after being put into bat, rode on destructive openers Shafali and Lanning’s attacking half-centuries to post an imposing 223 for 2.
In reply, Norris returned with figures 5/29 in 4 overs and helped DC limit RCB to 163/8. Norris became the first Associate player in the WPL

Apart from Norris, Alice Capsey claimed 2 wickets in DC’s win.

Norris ripped through the star-studded RCB middle order taking the wickets of Ellyse Perry (31), Richa Ghosh (2) and Heather Knight (34) to send half of their batters back into the hut for 93 in 12.2 overs.
She bowled with pace and got the WPL’s first fifer with Kanika Ahuja’s scalp.

While the young Shafali played some breathtaking power-packed strokes in her 84 off just 45 deliveries (10 fours, and four sixes), Australia skipper Lanning was more clinical in her shots, smashing 72 off 43 (14 fours) as the duo destroyed left RCB bowling in a tailspin.

The duo’s 162-run partnership ended in an equally dramatic manner, with both getting dismissed in the 15th over, with England off-spinner Heather Knight accounting for the two off the third and fifth deliveries of her second over.
Their departure off the third and fifth ball of the 15th over though did not slow the scoring rate, with Marizanne Kapp (39 not out) and young India player Jemimah Rodrigues (22 not out) helping the side cross the 200-run mark.
Chasing an enormous 224, RCB kept losing wickets at regular intervals and were succumbed under pressure from the start.

India vice-captain and WPL’s costliest player Smriti Mandhana, and Sophie Devine fired on all cylinders. At the four-over mark, they were 41 for no loss, way ahead of DC’s 29/0 at the same stage.
But English off-spinner Capsey triggered a stunning collapse, dismissing the duo in successive overs. She first accounted for the Kiwi batter for 14 (11b; 3×4) when Shafali took a stunning diving catch. Mandhana then gifted her wicket away with a top edge to Shikha Pandey.
The loss reminded one of RCB’s 140-run loss to Kolkata Knight Riders in the Indian Premier League in the inaugural edition in 2008, when they folded up for 82 in reply to KKR’s 222/3.

(With inputs from PTI)