Marizanne Kapp and Shafali Verma give UP Warriorz a thrashing
Written by I Dig SportsDelhi Capitals 123 for 1 (Shafali 64*, Lanning 51) beat UP Warriorz 119 for 9 (Sehrawat 45, Radha 4-20, Kapp 3-5) by nine wickets
Kapp's freakish spell destroys Warriorz
Four overs. One maiden. Five runs. Three wickets. Capitals could not have asked for a better start from their pace mainstay. Kapp carried forward her red-hot form from international cricket to the WPL to rattle Warriorz's top order.
In a brilliant display of swing bowling, Kapp started the first over conceding just a run. In her second over - which was a maiden - she removed Vrinda Dinesh, who chased a wide outswinger only to be caught at deep third. Her third over began with the wicket of Tahlia McGrath, who played down the wrong line to a back of a length delivery that went past her outside edge to take the top of off stump. Five balls later, Kapp had Warriorz captain Alyssa Healy as she miscued one to wide mid-off. Shafali did her part, running back to pluck out a clean superb catch.
Kapp bowled four overs straight to set the tone for Capitals.
Sehrawat's 45 in vain, Radha takes four
Radha, who varied her lengths cleverly, added one more wicket to her tally when she got rid of Sophie Ecclestone in the final over to finish with 4 for 20.
The Shafali-Lanning show blunts Warriorz
Lanning was happy to rotate the strike initially, with Shafali - after getting out for 1 against Mumbai - bouncing back strongly with a 36-ball fifty. Shafali struck a boundary in every over of the powerplay to power Capitals to 57 for 0 by the end of the first six. She was merciless especially against McGrath, hammering two fours and a six off the sixth over. In no time, she moved to 41 off 22 balls and brought up her fifty with a six towards deep midwicket.
Lanning picked up pace too and eventually scored her fifty off 42 balls in what was the final over of the game.
Warriorz' attack looked one-dimensional: heavy on spin with McGrath being their only recognised seamer. They had replaced seamer Saima Thakor with left-arm spinner Gouher Sultana, and the move did not work on the night.