West Indies captain Hayley Matthews produced a solid showing with the ball but it wasn’t enough to prevent her Mumbai Indians from going down by two wickets to the Delhi Capitals in a last ball thriller at the Kotambi Stadium in Vadodara on Saturday. The day didn’t start out well for the superstar all-rounder as she fell for a two-ball duck in the first over after the Indians were put in to bat by Capitals skipper Meg Lanning after she won the toss.
Matthews’ opening partner Yastika Bhatia was then joined by Nat Sciver-Brunt and the pair added 31 before Bhatia fell off the bowling of Shikha Pandey, who also dismissed Matthews, for 11 two balls into the fifth over.
Sciver-Brunt and captain Harmanpreet Kaur then laid the foundation for the rest of the innings with a 73-run third-wicket partnership that lasted until the 11th over when Kaur fell to Annabel Sutherland for 42 off just 22 balls including four fours and three sixes.
Sciver-Brunt carried on to finish 80* off 59 balls but, unfortunately, none of the remaining Mumbai batters were able to scratch double figures as they were bowled out for 164 with five balls remaining in the final over.
Sutherland finished with 3-34 from 3.1 overs while Pandey took 2-14 from her full four overs.
Chasing 165 for victory, Capitals openers Shafali Verma and Meg Lanning put on a rapid 60 in the first 5.5 overs before Verma fell off the bowling of pacer Shabnim Ismail for 43 off just 18 balls including seven fours and two sixes.
Two balls later, 60-1 became 60-2 when Matthews removed Lanning for 15 off 19 balls, bringing Sutherland to the crease to join Jemimah Rodrigues one ball into the seventh over.
They both fell quickly, leaving the Capitals struggling at 76-4 with one ball left in the ninth over.
Alice Capsey and Niki Prasad then added 33 for the fifth wicket before Capsey fell for 16 leaving the Capitals needing 56 from 31 balls.
Prasad and new batter Sarah Bryce then added a crucial 31 for the sixth wicket, carrying the equation to 25 needed from 15 balls at the time of Bryce’s dismissal for 21 off 10 balls including two fours and a six.
Shikha Pandey was next to go for just two in the 19th over, the equation now being 18 needed off nine balls.
The next three balls of the 19th over saw Radha Yadav get two, none and a crucial six, meaning the Capitals now needed 10 runs to win off the final over to be bowled by off-spinner Sajeevan Sajana who hadn’t bowled previously in the match.
Prasad got seven off the first three balls of the over before a single by Yadav off ball four meant the Capitals needed two off two for victory with Prasad on strike.
Things got a bit trickier for Delhi when Prasad fell caught in the deep by Amelia Kerr off the fifth ball meaning new batter Arundhati Reddy would face the last ball needing two to win.
Reddy got the two runs in the end, sealing a nerve-wracking win for the Capitals and subjecting Mumbai to a tough loss.
Summarized Scores:
Mumbai Indians Women 164 all out in 19.1 overs (Nat Sciver-Brunt 80*, Harmanpreet Kaur 42, Annabel Sutherland 3-34, Shikha Pandey 2-14)
Delhi Capitals Women 165-8 in 20 overs (Shafali Verma 43, Niki Prasad 35, Sarah Bryce 21, Amelia Kerr 2-21, Hayley Matthews 2-32).
Photos courtesy of WPL.