WPL 2024: Jonassen shines with bat, ball as Delhi beat RCB by 25 runs

Bengaluru (Karnataka) [India], February 29 : Jess Jonassen's three-wicket haul in the second innings and an unbeaten 36 with the bat helped the Delhi Capitals (DC) seal a 25-run win over Royal Challengers Bangalore in the 7th Women's Premier League (WPL) match at M.Chinnaswamy Stadium on Thursday.
Smriti Mandhana (74 runs from 43 balls) and Sophie Devine (23 runs from 17 balls) opened for the Bengaluru-based franchise in the chase of a stiff 195-run target. However, Mandhana's stupendous 74-run knock went in vain as she failed to help her side maintain their unbeaten winning streak.
The 77-run partnership between Mandhana and Devine was broken after Arundhati Reddy made the first breakthrough in the second inning after she dismissed the Kiwi batting all-rounder for 23 runs in the 9th over. She slammed 1 four and 2 overhead boundaries with a 135.29 strike rate. A few overs later, Marizanne Kapp removed Mandhana in the 12th over. The Indian batter slammed 10 fours and 3 sixes with a strike rate of 172.09.
Kapp bagged her second wicket in the 16th over after she removed Richa Ghosh for 19 runs in the 16th over. Richa slammed 2 sixes.
Shikha Pandey picked up Georgia Wareham's wicket in the 17th over. She scored 6 runs with a strike rate of 85.71.
Sabbhineni Meghana tried her best to take RCB to a better place in the game but she was run out by Taniya Bhatia for 36 runs in the 19th over. She slammed 2 fours and 1 six.
After the dismissal of Meghana, Delhi picked up quick wickets and removed Nadine de Klerk, Sophie Molineux, Simran Bahadur, and Asha Sobhana in the last two overs of the game.
On the other hand, Jonassen led the Delhi bowling attack after she bagged three wickets in her four-over spell. Reddy and Kapp picked up two wickets in their respective overs. Shikha Pandey scalped just one wicket and held Bangalore at 169/9 to clinch a 25-run win.
Recapping the first inning, DC amassed 70 runs in the final five overs, losing just a single wicket. Delhi got off to a brisk start with Shafali Verma taking the onus of scoring runs in the powerplay while skipper Meg Lanning took a cautious approach.
The young gun received a lifeline after Shreyanka dropped a sitter on the final ball of the first over. DC's assistant coach Lisa Keightley's reaction after the incident summed up the reaction of the entire RCB team. Shafali struck a six in the next over to make RCB pay for the lost chance.
Lanning's (11) cautious approach didn't reap rewards after Sophie Devine perfectly executed the plan to make the DC skipper play a cut shot straight into the hands of Wareham.
Shafali continued to open her arms on every possible occasion to find the fence for a boundary. She struck a four and a six in the final over of the powerplay to propel DC's score to 45/1.
Alice Capsey shared a similar intention and played aggressively, stitching up a crucial 82-run stand for the team. Their quick-fire partnership came to an end after Shafali (50) struck the ball straight to Wareham, handing Shreyanka Patil her first wicket of the game.
RCB's fielding woes continued to haunt them as Devine dropped a sitter on the first ball of the next over, giving Capsey a lifeline.
But Nadine de Klerk made amends on the final ball of her over by removing in-form batter Jemimah Rodrigues for a four-ball duck. Nadine struck back in her next over by removing set-batter Capsey for a score of 46.
Jess Jonassen (36*), Marizanne Kapp (32) and Arundhati Reddy (10*) picked up boundaries for fun. Jess and Reddy stayed till the end and stitched up a 22-run partnership in just nine balls. Jess struck out six on the final ball of the inning to power DC to a score of 194/5.
Brief score: Delhi Capitals 194/5 (Shafali Verma 50, Alice Capsey 46, Jess Jonassen 36*; Sophie Devine 2/23) beat Royal Challengers Bangalore 169/9 (Smriti Mandhana 74, Sabbhineni Meghana 36; Jess Jonassen 3-21).