WPL | Sloppy DC ride on Jemimah's stylish knock to trump Richa's heroics in nail-biter

SportsCafe Desk

BySportsCafe Desk, SportsCafe Editor

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Delhi Capitals came out on top by a solitary run in a humdinger against Royal Challengers Bangalore to secure a playoff spot. Jemimah Rodrigues' stroke-filled 58 had taken the hosts to 181 but Richa Ghosh's fireworks at the death meant the match was decided on the very last ball.

‌Brief score: DC 181/5 [Rodrigues 58(36), Capsey 48(32); Patil 4/26 (4)] beat RCB 180/7 [Ghosh 51(49), Perry 49(32); Reddy 1/24 (3)] by one run

After winning the toss to bat first, Delhi Capitals got off to a sedate start and managed only 16 runs in the first three overs. However, an awry Renuka Singh over allowed Meg Lanning to dispatch her for four boundaries before Shafali Verma also got into the act eventually to post a handsome powerplay score of 53/0. Shreyanka Patil and Asha Shobhana made sure to swing the momentum back in the visitors' favour by scalping the duo in successive overs as soon as the fielding restrictions lifted and brought Jemimah Rodrigues and Alice Capsey to the crease. The women in red had the opportunity to further their control over the game when Georgia Wareham outwitted Capsey batting on 18, but a fumble from Richa Ghosh meant it was all one-way traffic. The Delhi duo tackled the ragging pitch with brilliant efficiency to aggregate 97 runs in 61 deliveries as Jemimah particularly set the arena alight with an array of sweeps, paddles, and backfoot cuts. She eventually departed in the 18th over after bringing up her second-half century of the season and two blows in a miserly final over by Patil helped restrict the score to 181/5.

RCB got dealt a major blow early in their chase with Capsey trapping the in-form skipper plumb midway through the second over but Sophie Molineux and Ellyse Perry denied the visitors momentum with a steady partnership. The pair benefitted from a missed run-out opportunity and Capsey putting down a sitter before Perry's luck eventually ran out courtesy of a calamitous mix-up with her compatriot. Arundhati Reddy furthered the misery by getting rid of Molineux the very next over to leave RCB stuttering at 94/3 and needing 88 off the remaining eight overs. However, Sophie Devine capitalized on a fumbled run-out by Taniya Bhatia to strike two luscious blows and a boundary in the 15th over, thus sparking life back into the encounter. Richa Ghosh took the signal to tee off at the other end as well despite Devine succumbing with three overs remaining. A six on the first and penultimate ball of the final over brought the requirement down to two runs on the last delivery but the batter failed to make the non-striker's end by an inch and was left devastated as Delhi capped off a one-run victory.

What a finish!

Bad luck!

She almost made it!

No favours!

Salute

Superb

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Well played

True

Heartbreak!

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