Bengaluru, Feb 25 Marizanne Kapp and Shikha Pandey both claimed a couple of wickets in an over each to land early blows as Delhi Capitals overcame a late charge by Bharti Fulmani, who struck 40 not out off 29 balls, to restrict Gujarat Giants to 127/9 in 20 overs in their Women's Premier League (WPL) 2025 match at the M. Chinnaswamy Stadium here on Tuesday.
The pacers ruled the day for Delhi Capitals with Kapp claiming 2-17, Shikha Pandey bagging 2-18 and the experienced Annabel Sutherland taking 2-20 as Delhi Capitals, after electing to bowl first, capitalised on the slight green tinge on the pitch and the seaming conditions kept pegging at the Gujarat Giants' innings. The spinners maintained the good work in the middle overs as Delhi Capitals raised hopes of restricting Gujarat to less then 100.
But Bharati Fulmani hammered two sixes, the only two maximums of the innings, and four boundaries in her 29-ball 40 not out to give them some hope and respectability to the Gujarat Giants total.
The move to promote Harleen Deol (5,10b 1x4) to the opener's slot did not work for Gujarat Giants as Kapp sent her back in the fourth over, getting her to edge behind to keeper Sarah Bryce for five, Kapp struck again two balls later when she removed Phoebe Litchfield (0) as Gujarat Giants slump to 16/2.
Shikha Pandey struck two more blows in the next over, getting Beth Mooney (10, 11b,2x4), and Kashvee Gautam (2) caught in the deep by Niki Prasad off successive balls. Though she failed to get the hat-trick, the damage was already done as Gujarat Giants were reduced to 20/4. They ended the power-play at 31/4.
Gujarat Giants did not recover much from those early jolts despite Deandra Dottin hitting a few lusty blows in scoring 26 off 24 balls, hitting five boundaries as she raised Giants' hopes.
But Titas Sadhu bowled skipper Ashleigh Gardner (3) and Sutherland castled Dottin as GG were reeling at 60/6 halfway through their innings.
Fulmani then got into the act as she and Tanuja Kanwar (16 off 24, 1x4) raised 51 runs for the seventh wicket to take Gujarat past the 100-run mark. But total miscommunication between them resulted in Kanwar getting run out.
Fulmani continued to wage a lone battle as she managed to take her team past 120, ending the match with a four off the final delivery.
Both Gujarat Giants and Delhi Capitals came into the match after losing their last matches. But the Capitals now need to score 128 runs to return to winning ways.
Brief scores:
Gujarat Giants 127/9 in 20 overs (Bharti Fulmani 40 not out; Marizanne Kapp 2-17, Shikha Pandey 2-18, Annabel Sutherland 2-20) against Delhi Capitals.
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