capitals of delhi 110 for 1 (Capsey 38*, Shafali 33) pace Bombay Indians 109 for 8 (Vastrakar 26, Kapp 2-13, Pandey 2-21, Jonassen 2-25) by nine wickets
There is passion in everything. marizanne kapp does on the cricket field. When she hits, you just can’t breathe easy until she’s out. And when she bowls, she runs with a fierce look on her face, her brows furrowed slightly, and gives it her all, ball after ball. She is always in the captain’s ears or has a hand around a young man’s shoulder. She has put South Africa on the far right of a result many times, most notably at the Women’s World Cup last year and the T20 World Cup last month.
But it took a while for Kapp to get to this level in the Women’s Premier League. It wasn’t until her fourth match with the Delhi Capitals that she showed that she had really arrived, picking up the first five-for of his T20 career to demolish the Gujarat Giants.
Kapp has a 5.29 economy rate on the power play in the WPL. He is second best to Nat Sciver-Brunt among bowlers who have bowled at least 50 balls in the first six overs. She has picked up eight wickets in this phase, which is the most of any bowler. His total of nine he is the third-best by a closer in the WPL behind Capitals teammate Shikha Pandey and the Giants’ Kim Garth.
On Monday, another two-wicket blast on the power play from Kapp, who was as disciplined and penetrating as ever, pierced the Mumbai Indians and helped the Capitals. above the table two days before the end of the league phase. It was Mumbai’s second consecutive loss in the WPL after five wins in a row.
In front of a DY Patil Stadium crowd who were clad in blue, Kapp started with three successive points to Yastika Bhatia. On the third pitch, after the ball was returned to him, he passed the ball to the half and ran to captain Meg Lanning on the slip to speak quietly.
Anyone can guess what the conversation was about, because there were no immediate changes on the field. But when he started his second round, Bhatia had a deep square leg back, rather than the thin leg of the fly. He came short. Or at least that’s what he wanted the batter to think. And it worked.
Bhatia was caught on her back foot by a ball that was being thrown and moving through her. She caught the outer edge of it and landed safely on the goalie’s gloves.
Kapp was delighted. Lanning was delighted. Bhatia knew that she had been tricked.
“The day I took my five-wicket here, I was crying on the bus on the way here (DY Patil Stadium) because I knew Dane (van Niekerk) was retiring.”
marizanne kapp
Kapp then used the nip-backer to get the better of Nat Sciver-Brunt. He flipped her over and got her to move past Sciver-Brunt’s mowing across the line to castle her. A first-ball duck for the Mumbai all-rounder. The capitals had managed to shake up the ‘local side’ early.
Bhatia and Sciver-Brunt had combined for almost 39 per cent of the runs Mumbai had scored in the competition in the first six games. In fact, around 84 per cent of all Mumbai’s runs before Monday were scored by its top four batsmen. And in eight balls, Kapp had managed to see the backs of two of them. In doing so, he went 3-0-10-2 in the first six overs.
The last two years have really tested Kapp and his partner. Dane Van Niekerk. While Kapp achieved the heights of success, she won the women’s Hundred, twice, the women’s Big Bash League, once, and was part of the first senior South African cricket team to play. a world cup final, her teammate van Niekerk was snubbed by not one, but two teams that had initially designated her as captain. The Invincibles Oval left her out in 2022 and South Africa left her out in 2023. All this led her retire from international cricket at 29 years old
Kapp admitted it was “a struggle” to keep his focus through it all, but he still managed to turn out one breakthrough performance after another.
“The day I took my five (five wicket) ticket here, I was crying on the bus on the way here (DY Patil Stadium) because I knew Dane was retiring,” he said at the press conference after his second Player-Award award. match in the WPL. “It’s been hard, but again, I think it’s my religion. Jesus Christ has been so good to me, especially in those tough times. I also have to mention my team. They make it very easy for me to be here.”
“I’ve always been a very shy person, but I feel like I feel very comfortable with these girls and the management. I’ve settled in and they make me feel at home.”
On the same pitch that he picked up the five-wicket haul, Kapp may not have the volume of wickets to show for. But the impact of the two wickets he picked up early was on the same level, if not more, than those five against the Giants. But as it has been her nature to deflect praise directed at her towards others, he hailed Shikha Pandey’s penultimate over that went to just four with Issy Wong and Amanjot Kaur pounding in the middle.
“It’s always good to contribute, especially with the new ball. That’s my job,” Kapp told the broadcaster during the inning break. “I told Shikha (Pandey) it was one of the best death overs I’ve seen in a long time. So credit to the bowling attack.”
While Kapp, Pandey and Jess Jonassen each picked up two wickets to hold Mumbai to a paltry 109 for 8, it was clearly Kapp’s show at the start that set the tone for Capitals’ nine-wicket victory.
