After a promising start, the Delhi Capitals fell apart against Royal Challengers Bangalore spinners and were bowled out for 113 in the Women’s Premier League final on Sunday. DC were cruising at 64 for no loss in 43 balls when they committed harakiri, losing 10 wickets for 49 runs in front of a 28,781-capacity crowd that appeared divided in its affections. Sophie Molineux (3/20), an Australian left-arm spinner, started DC’s slide by taking three wickets in the ninth over. The hosts never recovered, losing wickets at regular intervals thanks to some poor strokes and off-spinner Shreyanka Patil’s (4/12) heroics in the middle and late overs, hastening their demise.
When DC skipper Meg Lanning (23 off 23) and Shafali Verma (44 off 27) chose to bat, they appeared to be in another universe as they gradually increased the tempo.
Lanning, the tournament’s second top run-getter, took a back seat as Shafali dominated after a poor start in the first 11 balls.
Shafali was particularly lethal right down the ground, hitting her first three sixes in that area. She raised her arms with the penultimate delivery of the second over, going down on her knee to send Molineux over far on for the first six of the innings.
RCB managed to put a stop on DC when Molineux scalped three wickets in the eighth over, removing Shafali, Jemmimah Rodrigues, and Alice Capsey; the last two wickets even placed her in position for a hat-trick, which she could not achieve.
After reaching 72 for 3 at the midway point, DC’s veteran Lanning, who was attempting to revive the innings, departed, trapped leg before Shreyanka, but not before wasting a review.
Following that, the home team continued to lose wickets in search of unneeded big shots, eventually falling to 81 for 6.
It was a disaster for DC, as they lost seven wickets for only 23 runs in that time.
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