With this astonishing victory, Delhi now stand golden a chance to seal the direct qualification into the final as they moved ahead of MI on net run rate. Both teams have 10 points from 7 matches.
Scorecard | As it happened
After opting to bowl, Delhi first have done a spectacular job of limiting the strong batting unit of Mumbai to 109/8 in 20 overs and pulled off a chase in just 9 overs to jolt Mumbai’s chances of securing a direct berth in the final.
Shafali Verma and skipper Meg Lanning took Mumbai bowlers to the cleaners from the word go piling 50 runs on the board in just 4 overs. Shafali’s blitz of 33 runs from 15 balls laid the foundation for Delhi’s big win.
Alice Capsey then took the charge and forged an unbeaten 54-run stand with Lanning to take Delhi home. Lanning played a few delightful strokes to finish with an unbeaten 32 off 22 balls while Capsey cracked 38 not out off just 17 balls laced with 5 sixes and one four.
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South African pacer Marizanne Kapp (2/13) struck twice in two balls to trigger MI’s collapse. Shikha Pandey and Jess Jonassen also chipped in with two wickets for DC.
Delhi face UP Warriorz — who also have qualified for the play-offs — on Tuesday, while Mumbai take on Royal Challengers Bangalore — who are out of reckoning — on the same day.
Tuesday’s matches will decide which team tops the table and directly qualifies for the final. The second and third place teams will play the eliminator.
Defending a small total, Mumbai needed early wickets but Delhi openers Lanning and Shafali denied them any breakthrough till the fifth over when the latter was out for 33 off just 15 balls. Verma hit six fours — including three in the second over bowled by Issy Wong — and one six during her aggressive innings.
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Lanning, who began with two fours in the first over, then took upon herself to chase down the target in a jiffy. She hoisted Wong for a six in the last ball of the powerplay.
Capsey then took over as she punished Hayley Matthews with three sixes in the seventh over before hitting Saika Ishaque to end the match.
Earlier, invited to bat in the top-of-the-table clash, Mumbai were reduced to 10 for 3 in 3.3 overs with Kapp (2/13) fetching wickets off consecutive deliveries in the third over, and they never recovered from there.
Pooja Vastrakar top-scored for Mumbai with a 26 while captain Harmanpreet Kaur and Issy Wong contributed 23 each.
The 37-run partnership for the fifth wicket between Kaur and Vastrakar was the highest for Mumbai.
Kapp first forced Yastika Bhatia (1) to edge an in-swinging delivery to wicketkeeper Taniya Bhatia before knocking off Nat Sciver-Brunt’s stumps the next ball for a first ball duck.
Kapp could not complete a hat-trick as Kaur defended solidly. But, Mumbai suffered another jolt as Hayley Matthews (5) fell the next over with the lively Jemimah Rodrigues taking a stunning one-handed catch at mid-on off the bowling of Shikha Pandey.
Mumbai were in tatters at 10 for 3 in the fourth over and they crawled to their lowest powerplay total of 19 for 3, before another blow struck them.
Introduced in the seventh over, Arundhati Reddy struck in her fifth ball, dismissing Amelia Kerr, who offered a loose shot into the hands of Bhatia behind the stumps as Mumbai wickets continued to tumble.
Vastrakar then struck a six and a four out of the blue as Mumbai took 18 runs from the 10th over to reach 46 for 4 at the halfway mark.
With Kaur needing to play sheet-anchor, Vastrakar was given the task to take risks and she had another couple of boundaries in the next over. But her stay was cut short with Jonassen dismissing her in the 12th over for 26.
Runs were hard to come by and even an in-form Kaur could not force the pace of Mumbai innings. She had a soft dismissal, trying to find a boundary with Jemimah taking the catch at deep midwicket.
Mumbai were 74 for 6 when Kaur was out and they added 35 runs in the last five overs to go past the 100-run mark.
(With PTI Inputs)
