Bengaluru, March 1 An unbeaten 146-run partnership between Shafali Varma and Jess Jonassen guided Delhi Capitals to a commanding nine-wicket victory over the Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) as they reached 151/1 in 15.3 overs with 27 balls to spare in the Women's Premier League (WPL) 2025 at the M.Chinnaswamy Stadium here on Saturday.
With this win, the Delhi Capitals, the two-time finalists, become the first team to qualify for the playoffs in this edition. The Meg Lanning-led side has reached the finals in the first two years and has cemented its claim for a third with this comfortable victory.
The 21-year-old Indian opener scored a blistering 80 off 43 deliveries while finding the boundary rope on eight occasions and scoring four maximums as well. Jonassen, the Australian star who was promoted to No.3 for the first time in the previous match against the Gujarat Giants, scored her second consecutive half-century by smashing 61 runs in 38 deliveries.
Delhi showed no signs of tiredness and produced an equally promising performance as they did against Mumbai Indians on Friday. After restricting their opponents to 147/5 in the first innings, RCB struck first blood by dismissing the dangerous Meg Lanning in the third over when she tried to hit a full-length delivery by Renuka Singh straight down the ground but only managed to find Perry at mid-on.
However, the electrifying crowd at the M. Chinnaswamy Stadium, who were hoping to see the home side win one game in the Bengaluru leg, were pulled back to reality by Shafali and Jonassen from there on.
It was the Indian batter who took the reins first and navigated through the challenging opening spell by finding the boundary seven times till the end of the power-play. Jonassen joined the party and started playing the field by smashing three fours off Perry in the 10th over. Jonassen reached the fifty-run milestone first, in 30 deliveries, and the right-handed batter followed soon in style by hitting a six off Georgia Wareham to reach the landmark in 29 balls.
Delhi raced to victory, with Shafali particularly looking eager to get the match over with, and claimed the victory with 27 deliveries to spare.
In the first innings, Ellyse Perry was left asking for support as she continued her fine form with an elegant 60 whilst the other batters failed to step up in the death overs. Raghvi Bist and Perry’s 66-run stand for the third wicket before debutant Nallapureddy Charani struck twice and halted the RCB innings and restricted them to 147/5 to hand the home side their fourth consecutive defeat.
Brief scores:
Royal Challengers Bengaluru 147/5 in 20 overs (Ellyse Perry 60 not out, Raghvi Bist 33; Charani 2-28, Shikha Pandey 2-24) lost to Delhi Capitals 151/1 in 15.3 overs (Shafali Varma 80 not out, Jess Jonassen 61 not out, Renuka Singh 1-28) by nine-wickets
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