WPL 2023: Shafali's Whirlwind Knock, Tara Norris' 5-Fer Blows Away RCB
Norris picked up 4 wickets [Twitter]
Women's Premier League witnessed a one-sided affair for the second game running as the Meg Lanning side crushed fan favourites Royal Challengers Bangalore by 60 runs on Sunday.
It was expected to be a close contest between two evenly matched teams, but Shafali Verma and Meg Lanning had some other plans as the duo teared apart the RCB bowlers before the bowlers did the rest of the work.
Shafali, Lanning too hot to handle
On one hand you had an aggressive batter in the form of Shafali Verma, and on the other side you had a calm natured person in Meg Lanning. The duo complimented each other to perfection as RCB had no clue how to stop the duo.
Both the batters nullified RCB's biggest threat - their opening seam bowlers in Megan Schutt and Renuka Singh Thakur. A perfect T20 wicket, and Shafali, Lanning took full advantage of it. The team from Bengaluru tried different permutations and combinations, but nothing worked as Shafali took a special liking towards the spinners.
Both the RCB spinners - Preeti Bose and Asha Shobana were taken to the cleaners and they combined conceded 64 runs in 6 overs.
On the other hand, Lanning used her deft touch to perfection and complimented Shafali with her own style of play.
With nothing working for her side, Mandhana brought in Heather Knight and she got both the openers in the same over. First, Meg Lanning departed for a well-crafted 72. She went after Knight and missed the slog as the stumps were castled.
16 runs shy of her maiden T20 ton, Shafali, too, missed her slog as the edge was taken by the keeper.
The finishing touches were provided by Marizane Kapp (39 off 17), and Jemimah Rodrigues (22 off 15) as DC posted a mammoth 223 on the board.
RCB falter
The chase was started on a positive note, but RCB lost the plot once the power-play ended. Mandhana and Sophie Devine played some delightful strokes and looked positive, but a miscued shot from Devine was taken by Shafali at mid off as the flood of wickets started to happen.
Mandhana looked her imperial best, but the pressure of required run-rate took a toll on her, as another miscued shot and she departed for a quick-fire 35 off 23 balls.
Once Mandhana departed, there were nervy faces in the dugout and rightly so. Ellyse Perry fought for a while, but struggled to get her timing right. It was all over when she was sent back to the hut for a well-compiled 31. Heather Knight took matters in her own hands, but it was all too late as the required rate just kept climbing up. She dealt some lusty blows, but the target was out of their reach.
Tara Norris' American Dream came true, as she picked up 5 for 29 to rattle the opposition.
Brief Score
Delhi Capitals: 223-2 (20)
Shafali Verma 84 (45), Meg Lanning 72 (43);
Heather Knight 2-40 (3)
Royal Challengers Bangalore: 163-8 (20)
Smriti Mandhana 35 (23), Heather Knight 34 (19);
Tara Norris 5-29 (4), Alice Capsey 2-10 (2)
.jpg "Jemimah's No-Ball DRS!")
 "Anurag Dasgupta")
