WPL: Lizelle Lee, Shafali Verma power Delhi Capitals to last-ball win over UP Warriorz

Lee was dismissed with her team needing 41 off 32 balls with eight wickets in hand, seemingly a straightforward assignment. (Express Photo | Narendra Vaskar)

After Delhi Capitals pulled back UP Warriorz with Shafali Verma’s help, Lizelle Lee’s big hits ensured that they got home despite a late wobble.

It was a game between the two teams still to get off the mark in the Women’s Premier League (WPL), and the nerves were all too evident on both sides, even though there was no crowd in attendance. In the end, Delhi Capitals stumbled over the line off the final ball of the game, which had no business going so deep. But Jemimah Rodrigues, her team and the coaching staff will hope that the seven-wicket win at the DY Patil Stadium is just the beginning after a tough start to the campaign. On the other hand, it was the third straight defeat for Meg Lanning’s UP Warriorz, and they seem to be staring down the barrel.

Chasing 155 for a win after a bigger target seemed likely for most of the UP Warriorz innings, the Delhi Capitals knew that well begun would be half the job done. The 94-run stand in 11.3 overs between Lizelle Lee (67 in 44 balls, 8x4s, 3x6s) and Shafali Verma (36 in 32 balls, 6x4s) should have ideally ensured that the rest of the chase became a cakewalk. That it got tight in the end made it all the more significant.

South African Lee targets the leg-side for most of her big hits, unless the delivery is wide of the stumps. Her power ensures that even shots that may not come off the middle of the bat have a good chance of clearing the field. Going down on one knee and slog-sweeping seems to be her go-to option, and she employed it often on Wednesday. Shafali, who often sets the pace for the Capitals, was made to look pedestrian by her bespectacled opening partner.

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Shafali came on to bowl in the 13th over – her captain later insisted she wasn’t the last option – with the Warriorz, with Meg Lanning and Harleen Deol were in the midst of what looked like a match-defining 85-run partnership. The Australian legend had hit her stride, and Harleen was being her steady self. A total of above 180 may have been on the cards before Shafali’s innocuous-looking off-spin entered the equation.

What may have been a desperate experiment turned out to be a masterstroke, as her accuracy, street-smartness, and variations tied the batters in knots. Shafali conceded just one boundary in her spell, and such was her impact that Jemimah entrusted her with the last over, which went for only six runs while bringing two wickets. Her final figures of 2/16 in four overs may have been the decisive intervention in the game.

When a batter is on a 36-ball 47 with three overs to go, conventional wisdom would suggest that she would be best suited for the late assault. But UP Warriorz went left field and retired Harleen out in favour of South African Chloe Tryon.

The perplexing move didn’t provide the desired result. Tryon scored just one off three balls as the team managed a mere 13 subsequent runs. Lanning later justified the decision, saying the innings had got stuck and a big hitter like Tryon could have provided the required impetus. Hindsight may be 20/20 vision, but a set batter like Harleen may have managed a few more, even if she is a more classical operator.

Brief scores: UP Warriorz 154/8 (Lanning 54, Harleen 47; Shafali 2/16, Kapp 2/24) lost to Delhi Capitals 158/3 (Lee 67, Shafali 36) by seven wickets