Delhi Capitals (DC) seamers shared seven wickets before Jess Jonassen’s  unbeaten 61 off 32 balls made short work of the chase to give her side a six-wicket win over Gujarat Giants (GG). The result lifted DC to the top of the points table at least for the time being. They now have three wins from five outings. GG remain rooted to the bottom with one victory from four matches.

When Meg Lanning put GG in after winning the toss, she hoped for early wickets. Marizanne Kapp and Shikha Pandey did not disappoint their captain. They picked up two each in the powerplay and reduced GG to 20 for 4. Soon it became 60 for 6, and it looked like GG might not even cross 100. But  Bharti Fulmali’s 40 not out off 29 balls from No. 8 steered them to 127 for 9.

DC lost Lanning early in the chase but Jonassen, promoted to No. 3, and Shafali Verma added 74 in just 6.1 overs to kill the contest. When Kapp hit the winning boundary, there were still 29 balls left in the match.

As she often does, Kapp got the ball to shape away from right-hand batters consistently. Harleen Deol, opening the innings, nicked one such delivery but the edge fell just short of Lanning at first slip.

Deol could not enjoy her luck for long, as Kapp induced another outside edge in her next over. This time the ball carried comfortably into the gloves of Sarah Bryce. Phoebe Litchfield, who had replaced Laura Wolvaardt in the XI, lasted just three balls; Kapp trapped her lbw for a duck.

Kapp’s double-wicket maiden left GG on 16 for 2 after four overs. In the next over, Pandey made it far worse with back wickets on back-to-back deliveries. Beth Mooney had started the over by crunching Pandey through the covers for four. Pandey switched to around the wicket, and found immediate success as Mooney’s pick-up shot landed into Niki Prasad’s hands at long leg.

Pandey and Prasad combined once again the next delivery to see the back of Kashvee Gautam,  whose attempted pull from well outside off stump skied towards deep midwicket. Prasad ran in and dived forward to complete a low catch.

For the hat-trick ball, Pandey went short again. She beat Deandra Dottin on the pull and hit her on the helmet. After a concussion check, Dottin flat-batted the next ball down the ground for four. In the next over, she repeated the shot against Kapp for the same result. Those boundaries lent the score some respectability as GG finished the powerplay on 31 for 4.

In the ninth over, Titas Sadhu castled Ashleigh Gardner, GG’s captain and their in-form batter, for 3 off 9 balls. Two overs later, Annabel Sutherland put an end to Dottin’s counterattack. But Fulmali, playing her first game of the season, led the fightback. In the 15th over, she pulled Minnu Mani over deep square leg for the first six of the innings. Along with Tanuja Kanwar, she added 51 in 40 balls for the seventh wicket and steered the side past 120.

Lanning is the second highest run-getter in the WPL. But apart from her 69 against UP Warriorz, she has struggled this season. Tuesday was no different. After being beaten by Dottin in the opening over, she tried to pull Gautam. But the ball came back in sharply to flatten her off stump. She made 3 off 13 balls.

It has been a case of diminishing returns for Lanning. In the 2023 season, she scored 345 runs at an average of 49.28 and a strike rate of 139.11. The following season, while her runs tally remained almost the same, her strike rate dropped to 123.04. This time, her numbers read: 109 runs from five innings at an average of 21.80 and a strike rate of 103.80.