UP Warriorz opened its account in the ongoing Women’s Premier League (WPL) with a dominant 33-run win over two-time runner-up Delhi Capitals at the M. Chinnaswamy Stadium on Saturday.
Kranti Goud’s four-fer, Chinelle Henry’s record-equalling half-century, and Grace Harris’ last-over hat-trick helped the Deepti Sharma-led side prevent the Capitals from clinching the reverse fixture too.
With plenty of movement on offer, particularly for the pacers, DC openers Meg Lanning and Shafali Verma got off to a sluggish start chasing 178.
Shafali was handed as many as four lifelines, dropped twice by Saima Thakor in the outer field and surviving botched stumping attempts by Uma Chetry twice.
AS IT HAPPENED: DC vs UPW Highlights
Lanning was the first to fall. Kranti, all of 21 years of age, confounded the Aussie veteran with a ball that moved into her pads and clipped the bails.
For all her misgivings on the field, it was Saima who removed Shafali off Kranti’s bowling in the ninth over, even uttering a short prayer after the ball finally stuck to effect the dismissal.
Jemimah Rodrigues fought a lone battle, quickly bringing up her first half century of the season. Her dismissal in the 15th over, however, triggered a collapse.
Grace Harris took out compatriot Annabel Sutherland in the fourteenth over, drawing rousing cheers from her teammates and spectators alike.
When she was handed the ball for the final over, shouts of “Let’s go Gracey” reverberated from the stands. The Australian then put on a show, becoming only the third player in WPL history to take a hat-trick (removed Niki Prasad, Arundhati Reddy and Minnu Mani). It was a moment of redemption for the 31-year-old after a dismal showing with the bat earlier in the day.
Earlier, Warriorz were put in to bat and got off to a slow start, with just 38 runs on the board from the PowerPlay. The side also lost Vrinda Dinesh in the process. The Capitals’ bowlers kept things tight until the 15th over.
The pace trio of Arundhati, Shikha Pandey and Marizanne Kapp kept the Warriorz in line, sharing five wickets between them. Jess Jonassen took four, including the big scalp of Chinelle Henry off the final ball of the innings.
Languishing at 89/6 by the 14th over, the destiny of the Warriorz in this game changed when Henry was introduced. Equalling Sophia Dunkley’s record for the fastest fifty in the history of the WPL (18 balls), the West Indian’s blistering 23-ball 62 reduced the DC fielders to mere spectators as she clubbed eight sixes into the stands.
A number of dropped catches and a whopping 25 extras undid the team long before its batting implosion did.