Delhi Capitals (DC) made it 12-1 for chasing teams in WPL 2025 as they beat Mumbai Indians (MI) by nine wickets in Bengaluru. The win, coming with 5.3 overs to spare, also helped DC replace MI at the top of the points table. They now have eight points from six games and MI six from five.

After being sent in, MI looked positive at the start but once their openers fell, Jess Jonassen and Minnu Mani ran through the middle order, picking up three wickets each. Each of MI’s top five batters reached double digits but none of them crossed 22. Towards the end, Amanjot Kaur struck an unbeaten 17 off ten balls to push the side to 123 for 9.

With DC chasing a well-below-par total, Shafali Verma and Meg Lanning added 85 for the first wicket in 9.5 overs. Shafali fell for 43 off 28 but Lanning carried on. She brought up her second half-century of the season, off 40 balls, and stayed unbeaten on 60 off 49 balls.

MI were off to a quick start. Both Yastika Bhatia and Hayley Matthews opened their accounts with first-ball fours off Marizanne Kapp. When Jonassen came to bowl the fourth over, Matthews greeted her with two fours off her first two balls.

But DC applied the brakes on the scoring rate after that. In the sixth over, bowling around the wicket, Shikha Pandey had Bhatia caught behind for 11. Bhatia’s tally for WPL 2025 now stands at 38 runs in five innings at a strike rate of 84.44.

Soon after, Matthews miscued Annabel Sutherland to Shafali Verma at mid-off. DC could have had Harmanpreet Kaur as well, for 1. In the eighth over, she edged Titas Sadhu but the ball flew between the wicketkeeper and slip. At the end of nine overs, MI were 49 for 2.

In DC’s previous game, Jonassen was named the Player of the Match for her batting. Tonight, she showed why bowling remains her stronger suit. Harmanpreet, having got her eye in, was looking to up the ante. In the tenth over, she muscled Sadhu over wide long-on for a 79m six. Three balls later, she showed her touch game. She moved towards the off side and tapped the length ball to the left of short fine leg for four.

But Jonassen cut her innings short on 22, trapping her lbw with an arm ball. MI still had Nat Sciver-Brunt, the leading run-getter this season, in the middle. Before this match, she had three fifties in four innings. For her, Jonassen slowed down the pace and beat her in flight. Sciver-Brunt was early into the shot, ending up chipping it back to the bowler. With another flighted delivery, Jonassen bowled G Kamalini to finish with figures of 3 for 25.

In between, Mani dismissed S Sajana and Amelia Kerr in the space of three balls. Kerr’s wicket was as much Sutherland’s as it was Mani’s. Mani had got Kerr to top-edge a pull. Sutherland, who was at long-on, ran in diagonally to her right and dived full-length to complete the catch inches off the ground. Sanskriti Gupta also fell to Mani, her slog finding Jemimah Rodrigues at deep midwicket.

MI knew they needed early wickets and, therefore, set attacking fields. Lanning, who has not been at her best this season, took advantage and picked up two fours off Shabnim Ismail in the first over of the chase.

MI’s plan to bowl short to Shafali also backfired. Sciver-Brunt ended up conceding five wides, and when she got it right, Shafali dispatched her to the boundary. In the fourth over, she hit Sciver-Brunt for two fours and a six in four balls.

At the other end, Lanning hit back-to-back fours off Ismail before meting out the same punishment to Matthews in the next over. By the end of the powerplay, DC had raced to 57 for no loss and had brought down the required rate to 4.78.

Even after the field restrictions were relaxed, DC did not slow down. In the ninth over, Shafali hit Kerr down the ground for two sixes. Amanjot eventually broke the stand when she had Shafali caught at deep midwicket.

By then, though, the contest was over. Lanning and Rodrigues took just 28 balls to knock off the remaining 39 runs.

Brief scores:
Delhi Capitals Women 124 for 1 in 14.3 overs (Meg Lanning 60*, Shafali Verma  43, Jemimah Rodrigues 15*; Amanjot Kaur 1-12) beat  Mumbai Indians Women  123 for 9 in 20 overs (Yastika Bhatia 11, Harmanpreet Kaur  22, Hayley Matthews 22, Nat Sciver-Brunt 18, Amelia Kerr 17, Amanjot Kaur 17*; Minnu Mani 3-17, Jess Jonassen 3-25, Shikha Pandey 1-16, Annabel Sutherland 1-21) by nine wickets

[Cricinfo]