Delhi Capitals became the first team to qualify for the WPL 2025 playoffs with a commanding victory over Royal Challengers Bengaluru at the M. Chinnaswamy Stadium. Shafali Verma and Jess Jonassen delivered outstanding unbeaten performances, scoring 80 and 61 respectively, in a remarkable 146-run partnership for the second wicket. Their efforts ensured a dominant nine-wicket win for Delhi with 4.3 overs remaining. For RCB, Ellyse Perry once again stood out, scoring an unbeaten 60, but received limited support, with Raghvi Bist’s 33 being the only other notable contribution. This defeat concludes a disappointing home leg for RCB, who suffered losses in all four of their matches.
Smriti Mandhana, having lost her fourth consecutive toss, saw her RCB team put in to bat for the fourth time in Bengaluru. Continuing the trend of early movement with the new ball at this venue, Marizanne Kapp and Shikha Pandey troubled the RCB openers. Despite Pandey conceding a boundary off a wayward delivery to Mandhana early in her spell, she quickly adjusted her length and consistently beat the batter with outswingers. Her persistence paid off when she induced Mandhana to edge a delivery away from her body, which was safely caught at wide slip.
Danielle Wyatt-Hodge and Ellyse Perry initially adopted a cautious approach against the swing bowling but unleashed their aggression once spin was introduced. Both batters targeted Jess Jonassen, each hitting a six down the ground. However, Meg Lanning missed a chance to dismiss Wyatt-Hodge, dropping a catch at cover. The flow of boundaries continued for a few overs, but immediately after the timeout, Kapp dismissed Wyatt-Hodge, allowing the Capitals to regain control.
The mounting pressure led to Raghvi Bist mistiming a shot, resulting in a dropped catch by Niki Prasad in the deep, highlighting some fielding sloppiness from the Capitals. Perry continued her aggressive innings, taking 14 runs off Minnu Mani’s 11th over, while Bist contributed with a six over deep mid-wicket off Sutherland. Despite RCB occasionally finding the boundary, the Capitals effectively restricted scoring with dot balls for the remainder of the overs. Perry reached her fourth half-century of the tournament as RCB aimed to build towards a competitive total in the final overs.
Debutant Nallapureddy Charani bowled a tight over, which included Perry surviving a close LBW appeal. The bowler also missed an opportunity to run out Bist on the following delivery due to a fumble. The Capitals’ series of errors continued as Sarah Bryce missed a stumping chance off Bist, who capitalized by hitting a six to end the over.
Bist’s luck finally ran out when she was stumped off Charani in the following over. Shortly after, the left-arm spinner dismissed Richa Ghosh. The wickets kept falling as Kanika Ahuja was caught out at mid-off. RCB’s batting display in the death overs was poor, managing only 41 runs in the last 5 overs, with Perry facing just seven balls during this crucial period.
In their chase, Delhi Capitals’ openers faced tight bowling from Renuka Singh Thakur’s inswingers. Meg Lanning survived a couple of close LBW shouts, but in an attempt to accelerate the scoring, she mistimed a shot and was caught by Perry at mid-on, leaving the batting side at 5 for 1 after three overs. However, this was the only moment of success for RCB in the innings. Jess Jonassen, batting at No. 3, and Shafali Verma launched a counter-attack against Kim Garth in the following over, hitting three boundaries, all off back-foot shots. Verma then targeted Renuka, quickly advancing to 22 runs off just 13 balls.
RCB were forced to turn to their key player, Perry, with the ball, but even she bowled onto the pads, allowing the Capitals to reach 41 for 1 after the powerplay. The only opportunity for the hosts came right after the timeout when Ghosh missed a stumping chance to dismiss Jonassen. From that point onward, the Capitals accelerated their scoring. Jonassen punished Sneh Rana for her shorter deliveries and then attacked her Australian counterpart, Perry, for another 15 runs.
Georgia Wareham managed to bowl a few quieter overs, but her spin partner, Ekta Bist, faced the wrath of both batters, each hitting a six against her. Jonassen was the first to reach her half-century, off 30 deliveries, while Verma followed in the next over with a six over covers. RCB completely lost control as Garth parried a skier from Verma over the boundary ropes. Verma and Jonassen then scored boundaries rapidly to reach the target with 4.3 overs to spare.
Brief Scores: Royal Challengers Bengaluru 147/5 in 20 overs (Ellyse Perry 60*, Raghvi Bist 33; Shikha Pandey 2-24, Nallapureddy Charani 2-28) lost to Delhi Capitals 151/1 in 15.3 overs (Shafali Verma 80*, Jess Jonassen 61*; Renuka Singh Thakur 1-28) by nine wickets
