Delhi Capitals. (Photo Source: Twitter/WPL)
Delhi Capitals are back to winning ways after getting a minor hiccup in their Women’s Premier League campaign with a defeat against Mumbai Indians in their third fixture. They have made a remarkable comeback in the next two games beating Gujarat Giants and Royal Challengers Bangalore by ten and six wickets respectively.
The Meg-Lanning-led side will be once again up against Gujarat Giants on Thursday, March 16 at Mumbai’s Brabourne Stadium. Delhi will look to put up another dominating performance and strengthen their position on the second spot in the points table. And to make that happen, they will once again have to field a strong Playing XI against Gujarat.
Here is Delhi Capitals’ predicted XI for the match against Gujarat Giants:
Openers: Shafali Verma, Meg Lanning (c)
Meg Lanning and Shafali Verma. (Photo Source: WPL/Twitter)
Shafali Verma has played two breathtaking knocks in the tournament so far. The first one coming against RCB in the first match where she scored 84 off 45 balls while her second one was against Gujarat where she smacked 76 off 28 balls. However, she couldn’t give a flying start to her team in the last fixture against RCB as she got bowled for a golden duck. She will look to replicate her sensational performance against Gujarat from their previous clash.
Meg Lanning has made her bat talk in the tournament so far as she’s the highest run scorer of the tournament with 221 runs to her name in five matches at an average of 55.25 and a strike rate of 138.99. She will look to once again lead from the front and get her side off to a rollicking start.
Middle Order: Alice Capsey, Jemimah Rodrigues, Taniya Bhatia (wk)
Jemimah Rodrigues. (Photo Source: Twitter/WPL)
Capsey played a brilliant knock of 38 off 24 balls in the last fixture against RCB and made full use of the powerplay after Delhi lost Shafali Verma early for a golden duck. She has also bowled some crucial overs in the middle and contained the run flow.
Jemimah Rodrigues once again played a crucial knock against RCB scoring 32 off 28 balls and helped her side get closer to the opposition’s total. Rodrigues has risen to the occasion in every given opportunity and has played useful cameos for her team.
Taniya Bhatia hasn’t got many opportunities with the bat in the tournament so far as she has come out to bat only once and scored just four runs. However, she has done a fine job for her team as a wicketkeeper inflicting three dismissals so far in the tournament.
All-rounders: Marizanne Kapp, Jess Jonassen
Marizanne Kapp. (Photo Source: Pankaj Nangia/Getty Images)
Marizanne Kapp has done a brilliant job as an all-rounder so far as she played a scintillating innings of 39 off 17 balls in the opening match against RCB. She once again played a crucial knock of a run-a-ball 32* in the previous game helping her side chase down the target of 151 in the last over.
With the ball, she bowled a sensational spell of 5/15 in four overs and registered the best bowling figures in the previous fixture against Gujarat. She will once again look to bring her ‘A game’ to the fore and blow away Gujarat.
Jess Jonassen played a brilliant cameo of 29 off 15 balls in the previous game against RCB which helped her side win the game in the last over. In the second game against UP Warriorz she put her all-round abilities on display and scored 42* off 20 with the bat and also picked up 3/43 in four overs.
Jonassen will once again look to leave an impact on the game with both bat and ball against U.P.
Bowlers: Arundhati Reddy, Radha Yadav, Shikha Pandey, Tara Norris
Shikha Pandey 2. (Photo Source: Delhi Capitals/ Twitter)
Arundhati Reddy hasn’t got many opportunities to make a name for herself in the tournament so far as she hasn’t got a single opportunity to bat while she has bowled just one over in the tournament so far, where she gave away 14 runs.
Radha Yadav has been on the expensive side as compared to other bowlers in her team. She has so far given away 80 runs in ten overs at an economy of eight and has picked up one wicket. She will look to contain the batters in the middle in the upcoming fixture.
Shikha Pandey has put up back-to-back memorable performances as she bowled a brilliant spell of 3/23 in four overs against RCB. Earlier in the fourth match against Gujarat, she picked up 3 wickets for 26 runs. Pandey is the highest wicket-taker for Delhi having eight scalps to her name at an average of 16.25 and an economy of 6.84.
Tara Norris got her tournament off to a magnificent start as she became the first bowler to pick up a five-wicket haul in WPL against RCB in Delhi’s opening fixture. However, she has looked off-colour since then picking only two wickets in the next four games. She will look to contribute more in the upcoming game against Gujarat.
Predicted Playing XI: Meg Lanning (c), Shafali Verma, Alice Capsey, Jemimah Rodrigues, Marizanne Kapp, Taniya Bhatia (wk), Jess Jonassen, Arundhati Reddy, Radha Yadav, Shikha Pandey, Tara Norris
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