WPL: DC start off home-leg with a bang by beating MI

Captain Lanning set the tone with a fine 53(38), while Jemimah Rodrigues finished things off in style with a superb 69*(33) helping DC post a formidable 192/4 after being asked to bat first.

A disciplined & collective bowling performance, led by Jess Jonassen (3/21), then saw the home side restrict MI to 163/8 as they cruised to their fourth win in a row.

Defending 193, DC got off to a brilliant start, picking up four wickets inside the powerplay.

Marizanne Kapp cleaned up Yastika Bhatia in the first over, while Shikha Pandey struck off her first ball in the next, cleaning up Nat Sciver-Brunt with a superb inswinger.

Kapp then had the big wicket of Harmanpreet Kaur, having her caught at backward point off a leading edge. Amidst all this, Hayley Matthews continued to attack to keep the runs flowing and bring up MI's 50, but Jess Jonassen struck in her first over to dismiss Matthews (29 off 17) to reduce the visitors to 54/4 in the Powerplay.

DC choked the scoring, built the pressure and it brought another wicket as Titas Sadhu had Amelia Kerr caught at long on after being hit for a six off the previous ball.

Amanjot Kaur and Pooja Vastrakar then steadied the ship via a 48-run stand, with Kaur (42 off 27) being the aggressor. With the partnership blossoming, Lanning brought back Jonassen, and the move worked as she cleaned up Kaur.

All this while the required run-rate kept climbing. It got tougher and tougher as MI lost wickets. S Sajana fought hard for her with a 14-ball 24*, but in the end, MI fell well short by 29 runs.

Earlier, Mumbai Indians won the toss and elected to field. Captain Harmanpreet Kaur was back leading the side after recovering from a niggle, because of which she missed a couple of matches.

The home side got off to a brisk start but, in the process, lost Shafali Verma inside the Powerplay. Verma was the aggressor as she hit three fours and two sixes on her way to a quick-fire 28 off 12, while Lanning hit a four and a six.

Verma got lucky early, as she was dropped by Saika Ishaque in the third over on 15. The DC opener then smashed two consecutive sixes off Shabnim Ismail before the MI pacer came roaring back to have Verma caught behind next ball. DC reached 55/1 at the end of the Powerplay.

After a quiet over, Capsey and Lanning upped the ante as they hit three fours off Amelia Kerr.

However, Nat Sciver-Brunt plugged the run-flow again with a frugal two-run over, and that helped Hayley Matthews strike in her first over as she had Capsey drag onto the stumps trying to reverse sweep.

Lanning pressed the accelerator button, cracking a couple of fours and a six off Kerr to bring up DC's hundred in the 12th over.
The DC captain brought up her half-century off just 36 balls with her trademark nicely-placed four off Pooja Vastrakar, but the MI pacer bounced back off the final ball of the over to have Lanning caught at deep mid-wicket for 53(38).

MI pulled things back, and it took DC 17 balls to hit their next boundary as Jemimah Rodrigues and Marizanne Kapp hit three of them in the 16th over, from Ismail.

Jemimah then went berserk, mixing power and placement perfectly, to bring up her fifty in style with a four and a six off Nat Sciver-Brunt, off just 27 balls. She followed up with another six as DC accumulated 18 off the penultimate over.

A six and a four followed in the final over as DC posted a formidable 192/4. The final five overs saw some fantastic strokeplay from Rodrigues as DC scored 69/1. Rodrigues remained not out on 69* (33).