WPL 2023

Put into bat first, RCB made a slow start as Marizanne Kapp set a brilliant tone for DC by bowling a maiden first over against Smriti Mandhana. Kapp, who claimed a sensational fifer in the last game, continued her impressive show along with Alice Capsey from the other end and the pressure was building on RCB batters, especially Mandhana.

"We are going to have a bowl this evening. We want to make the most of any help that is there on the surface. We need to do both very well. RCB have some really good players and we have to be on top of our game to beat them. We will see what the conditions are and then assess what would be a good score. Capsey and Reddy come into the team," said Lanning at the toss.

In Sunday's match, uncapped left-arm spinner Saika Ishaque was the star with the ball yet again, picking 3/33 to restrict UP Warriorz to a below par 159/6. Mumbai were then challenged as they lost their openers early and suffered a slight stutter in the middle overs. But captain Harmanpreet Kaur led from the front to score her second fifty in the tournament, through an unbeaten 53, and got support from 45 not out by Nat Sciver-Brunt to lead Mumbai to their fourth straight win of the competition.

Needing 160 runs to win, MI were off to a brisk start as Bhatia, who was dropped in the second over, and Hayley Matthews took MI to 51/0 after six overs. Amongst runs, big hits and a dropped chance, there was an action-packed DRS call in the fifth over bowled by Sophie Ecclestone, featuring Matthews, who managed to stay in the middle after the third umpire stuck with the on-field decision of not-out.

This was Delhi Capitals' third win in four matches and they are at the second spot in the points table while Gujarat suffered their third defeat in four games to lie in fourth place. Apart from Kapp, the likes of Shikha Pandey (3-26) and Radha Yadav (1-19) also picked crucial wickets at different stages as Delhi Capitals restricted Gujarat Giants to 105/9 in 20 overs.

Kapp provided Delhi Capitals with an ideal start, getting rid of four Gujarat Giants batters in the first three overs. The pacer picked the important scalps of Sabbhineni Meghana, Laura Wolvaardt and Ashleigh Gardner to put Giants on backfoot. She continued her dominance and removed the inform batter Harleen Deol and wicket-keeper Sushma Verma to complete her five-wicket haul.

Apart from Kapp, the likes of Shikha Pandey (3-26) and Radha Yadav (1-19) also picked crucial wickets at different stages for Delhi Capitals as Kim Garth (32 not out off 37), Georgia Wareham (22 off 25) and Harleen Deol (20 off 14) were the only ones to made vital contributions for Gujarat. After winning the toss and opting to bat first, Gujarat Giants were off to a disastrous start, losing five wickets inside the Power-play.

Gujarat Giants, who won the last game, made two changes in their playing XI as Laura Wolvaardt and Georgia Wareham came in place of Sophia Dunkley and Annabel Sutherland for this game. "We would like to bat first on a fresh wicket. We have two changes, Laura and Georgia are in. It's amazing for us that Laura has joined us, we are excited. It's just the team combination for the particular day.

Despite a star-studded line-up, Bangalore have lost all four matches and are rooted to the bottom of the points table. Smriti, the most expensive player of the competition, has made only 80 runs in four matches. Moreover, she has fallen to off-spinners thrice in the tournament, while being dismissed by left-arm spin of UP Warriorz' Rajeshwari Gayakwad in Bangalore's ten-wicket defeat.

Excellent outings from spinners Sophie Ecclestone (4/13) and Deepti Sharma (3/26) helped UP Warriorz bowl out RCB for 138 despite a fighting half-century (52 off 39) by Ellyse Perry in a WPL 2023 match. After Perry, Sophie Devine (36 off 24) was next top-scorer for RCB as other batters struggled to get going against a disciplined UP bowling attack.