WPL 2023: While Gujarat Giants is still figuring out its right playing XI, Delhi Capitals will hope to qualify for the playoffs by sealing a spot in the top three.
Delhi centrals will look to seal its top- two place when it meets Gujarat titans in a Women’s Premier League institution in Mumbai on Thursday.
The Meg Lanning- led centrals have had a astral crusade so far in WPL 2023, with a solitary mark in their record being a domestic loss to Mumbai Indians. The side has returned to dominant winning ways and will hope to brush an unsteady titans unit out of the way.
The centrals have constantly backed their winning combination, infrequently changing the playing XI during the event. While the titans ’ problems deaden their implicit to be a solid attacking unit, this could be a good game for Lanning to test her bench. Delhi has constantly contended Arundhati Reddy but slightly utilised her as a bowler. Titas Sadhu, Poonam Yadav, or indeed Sneha Deepthi getting a look in might give the team a chance to weigh its options more.
The bigger question is why should they change commodity that’s working well? In contending nearly an all- limited lineup for utmost of the event, the centrals have prioritised winning, maybe unconsciously, over walking the openings tightrope, and it has worked for the side. Sealing that playoff situation will be the first thing on their minds at the Brabourne Stadium.
Capsey has made them happier since WPL got afoot some 10 days agone. On Monday night, her 38 off 24 balls helped Capitals overcome the loss of the in- form openers Meg Lanning and Shafali Verma, as she put DC’s chase against Royal contenders Bangalore on the right track.
The significance of her innings came clearer after the match centrals ’ fourth palm in five matches came with only two balls to spare. In her first match, also against RCB, she had taken the lattices of Smriti Mandhana and Sophie Devine with her off- spin.
Capsey is all of just 18. She clearly looks like one for the future.
“It was good fun, ” the England allrounder said after her knock at the DY Patil Stadium. “ It was nice to have hit some boundaries in the Power Play. ”
“It has been a brilliant event, ” she said. “ We’ve seen 200- plus scores in every other game and you have these kinds of games (on Monday) going down to the line. ”
“Meg and Shafali are among the leading songwriters in the event and we’ve got Marizanne Kapp and Tara Norris who have taken five- gate hauls, ” she said. “ And we’re one of the stylish fielding sides in the competition. ”
She may still be in her teens, but she has formerly made a mark in professional leagues, back home in The Hundred, in which her side Oval Invincibles was the champion in both the editions, and the WBBL in Australia.
WPL 2023 is past the interior stage, but a platoon that has not figured out its ideal XI are the titans. The fragility of the platoon’s opinions is instanced in the way they ’ve rotated opening combinations. After Beth Mooney’s injury, the side brought Sophia Dunkley, who scored the fastest fifty of the event. When Laura Wolvaardt was roped in, titans, to everyone’s surprise, dropped Dunkley to accommodate the SA nature. Wolvaardt couldn’t fire and was also dropped to bring back Dunkley. While the musical chairpersons continue then, S Meghana’s low scores are doing the top order no favours. It remains to be seen if the titans do a UP and bring up another player or exchange in Meghana for someone like Ashwani Kumar.
Another issue is an under firing bowling unit. With the pitches starting to prop spin, maybe Mansi Joshi, who has been precious and not murderous, can be replaced with someone like Hurley Gala, a handy club. Sneh Raha’s side will need further discipline in its bowling to fight a deep Delhi fur order. Know More Women’s Cricket News…
SQUADS:
Delhi Capitals: Meg Lanning(c), Shafali Verma, Alice Capsey, Marizanne Kapp, Jemimah Rodrigues, Jess Jonassen, Taniya Bhatia(w), Minnu Mani, Radha Yadav, Shikha Pandey, Tara Norris, Poonam Yadav, Laura Harris, Arundhati Reddy, Jasia Akhtar, Aparna Mondal, Titas Sadhu, Sneha Deepthi
Gujarat Giants: Sabbhineni Meghana, Sophia Dunkley, Harleen Deol, Ashleigh Gardner, Dayalan Hemalatha, Annabel Sutherland, Sneh Rana(c), Kim Garth, Sushma Verma(w), Mansi Joshi, Tanuja Kanwar, Laura Wolvaardt, Georgia Wareham, Monica Patel, Ashwani Kumari, Hurley Gala, Shabnam Md Shakil, Parunika Sisodia
