New Delhi, March 8 Deepti Sharma became the first India player to take a hat-trick in the Women’s Premier League (WPL) as her spell of 4-19 ensured UP Warriorz managed to defend the lowest total in the tournament so far and beat Delhi Capitals by just one run at the Arun Jaitley Stadium on Friday.
Deepti had top-scored for the Warriorz in their score of 138/8 with 59 off 48 balls and with Delhi needing 15 runs off 12 balls to win, she took three wickets in the 19th over to complete a hat-trick and pushed the hosts on the backfoot on a sluggish pitch.
Grace Harris kept her calm in the final over as she took two wickets, apart from a run-out, with Delhi bowled out for 137 and though they are the table-toppers, they would be left wondering how they botched up a straightforward chase, despite a fine 60 by captain Meg Lanning.
Chasing a below-par 139, Delhi were dealt an early blow when Shafali Verma's off-stump was rattled by Saima Thakor. Meg treated the decent Delhi crowd to some excellently timed and placed boundaries on both sides of the wicket, with her fours piercing square of the wicket in the off-side against Saima being a visual delight. Meg continued her good run post-powerplay, fiercely pulling off Gouher Sultana, Deepti and Rajeshwari Gayakwad to pick boundaries effortlessly while scything with surgical precision the gap at cover point to take another four.
Alice Capsey struggled to get going despite a cheeky scoop over the keeper’s head for four and lofting a six over deep mid-wicket – and finally holed out in the deep for a 23-ball 15 off Sophie Ecclestone.
Meg, though, marched forward and continued to dazzle by punching and slicing off Rajeshwari and Deepti, before slapping one through cover and pulling twice off Gouher to get her fifty in 38 balls. Her fine knock ended at 60 off 46 balls when she was trapped lbw in front of the middle stump by Deepti. Jemimah Rodrigues wowed the Delhi crowd by walking down the pitch and smacking Tahlia with a straight bat for a 76-m six over long-on but holed out to long-off on the first ball of the 18th over against Saima.
Jess Jonassen diffused the pressure by smacking Saima over deep mid-wicket for six and followed it up with a straight drive past the fast bowler for four. But Deepti produced a twist in the 19th over by castling Annabel Sutherland and having Arundhati Reddy holing out to wide long-on on consecutive deliveries. Shikha Pandey smacked a four over Deepti’s head but chipped the next ball back to the bowler. With ten runs needed in the final over, Radha smacked Grace Harris high over the cow corner fence, where Poonam Khemnar couldn’t take the catch and the ball hit the boundary cushion for six.
Another twist came when Radha chopped onto her stumps and Jess was run out in pursuit of a tight single on consecutive deliveries. With two runs needed, Titas Sadhu chipped straight to mid-on, as Warriorz’ snatched an unlikely win to keep their knockout hopes alive.
Brief scores:
UP Warriorz 138/8 in 20 overs (Deepti Sharma 59, Alyssa Healy 29; Radha Yadav 2-16, Titas Sadhu 2-23) beat Delhi Capitals 137 all out in 19.5 overs (Meg Lanning 60; Deepti Sharma 4-19) by 1 run.
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