The second match of the inaugural season of the Women’s T20 League between Bangalore and Delhi got underway on Sunday, March 5, 2023, at the Brabourne Stadium in Mumbai. Bangalore won the toss and opted to bowl first, but the bowlers had nothing special to provide as they leaked too many runs since the start of the innings.
Delhi openers Meg Lanning and Shafali Verma produced an amazing batting performance. They started aggressively in the powerplay and didn’t stop after it as both stitched a 162-run stand for the first wicket. Surprisingly, Bangalore’s team was looking very strong after the auction and it looked like they will have the strongest bowling lineup in the Women’s T20 League.
The star-studded bowling lineup had no answers for Delhi’s cracking batting display. However, somehow, Heather Knight got the first breakthrough as she cleaned up Lanning in the 15th over of the first innings. Lanning danced down the ground and tried to flick the ball on the leg side but missed it and got bowled. However, she already did the damage by scoring 72 runs off 43 balls which included 14 fours.
Brilliant performance by Bangalore’s batters
The Bangalore-based finally took a sigh of relief when Knight picked up Shafali’s wicket in the same over. Shafali also came down the ground but Knight smartly dragged the length and the batter could only get the outside edge and rest of the work was done by wicketkeeper Richa Ghosh who took a brilliant catch behind the wickets. Shafali departed after scoring 84 runs off just 45 deliveries which included 10 fours and 4 sixes.
Bangalore thought that this could be a turnaround for them but nothing like that happened as Marizanne Kapp and Jemimah Rodrigues continued from where the openers left and were dealing with boundaries only. Both stitched an unbeaten 63-run partnership and helped the team to achieve a monumental total of 223 runs. Bangalore have a star-studded batting line-up and it will be interesting to see how will they chase the huge target.
Here’s how fans reacted:
Still job done ✅ pic.twitter.com/18HmtGM7vr
— Sid Malhotra 🇮🇳(Kaira stan ✨) (@SidMalh7) March 5, 2023
DC openers to rcb bowlers pic.twitter.com/OIuKQM3EzI
— Rohit (@rohit_0718) March 5, 2023
Century missed 🥲
— Gabbar (@befikar_dhawan) March 5, 2023
Finally pic.twitter.com/CYAChcneDp
— Florida woman 💀 (@NucleusDevi) March 5, 2023
Destroyed Haarcb
— ClockTower (@Clocktower45) March 5, 2023
Shefali itni maturity WC mhe dikhayi hoti, jitna WPL mhe dikha rhi,
Toh hum logg WC jeet gaye hotte— .. (@kyadekhrahe) March 5, 2023
Delhi is back 😊😊 pic.twitter.com/XBQMBqkCh4
— 🇮🇳 Vipul Sehgal (@VipulSehgal312) March 5, 2023
Goat hesson strategy worked 🔥 pic.twitter.com/2mjZPi5Af6
— Purva Kadam (@Kohlifitoor) March 5, 2023
