Delhi Capitals suffered another heartbreaking defeat in the Women’s Premier League (WPL) final as they lost to Mumbai Indians in the summit clash on March 15 (Saturday). It was their third successive loss in the WPL final as their wait for a maiden title continues.
The DC players were dejected after the loss as the title was so close yet so far. Delhi Capitals head coach Jonathan Batty took the responsibility to face up the media after the match was over.
Batty revealed the mood of the dressing room and admitted that the pressure of the final got to his team’s players. He also hailed the opposition Mumbai Indians for defending the total brilliantly in the end.
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Jonathan Batty on Delhi Capitals’ defeat
While speaking to the media after the game, Jonathan Batty was confident that Delhi Capitals will chase down the total but admitted that the big occasion of the finals got to his players. He also called it the sustained pressure from Mumbai Indians bowlers that made the difference.
“Everyone’s hurting a huge amount at the moment. I think 99 percent of the time you back yourself to chase 150 on that wicket there. Big match finals, maybe the occasion just got to the players but full credit to Mumbai Indians for the way they defended that total,” said Batty.
“They made it really hard for us and we were never ahead in the chase. We were in the game all the way through, just couldn’t get over the line,” the DC head coach added.
The target wasn’t big enough and Delhi Capitals were ahead in the game at the halfway stage. However, Mumbai’s relentless bowling didn’t allow Delhi to come on top in the run-chase any time.
Is it a mental block? Jonathan Batty responds
While this was Delhi Capitals’ third defeat in three successive WPL finals, Jonathan Batty refused to admit that it was a mental block for his team. He claimed that his team was positive throughout the season and didn’t carry the pressure of two finals this season.
“The girls have been really positive, I can’t fault them. There has been no negative talk at all like ‘Oh we’ve messed up the last two finals, we’re going to take that baggage into this one’, none of that. I thought they were really positive, really confident,” Batty observed.
The former English cricketer praised his bowlers to keep the opposition to a below-par total in the first innings. However, Mumbai were too good on the day on a ground they know quite well.
“I don’t think there is a mental block at all. If you look at the way we performed with the ball, we did a great job to keep them to 149 on that wicket. We have seen what had happened in the elimination game and the other games here. We were expecting 180 to be a par score, so we were really happy with that,” he added.
Delhi Capitals suffer another heartbreaking final loss
Delhi Capitals won the toss earlier and put Mumbai Indians to bat first. MI started poorly by losing two wickets but Harmanpreet Kaur and Nat Sciver-Brunt stole the show with a brilliant partnership.
The Capitals came back strongly in the last phase of the game but Mumbai scored 149-7 on the back of Harmanpreet’s fantastic 66 off just 44 balls. Sciver-Brunt complemented her with a well-made 30.
In reply, the Capitals were never in the chase and kept losing wickets at regular intervals. Jemimah Rodrigues played a fantastic hand of 30 off 21 balls while Marizanne Kapp smashed a quickfire 40 off 26 balls but their team fell 8 runs short of the target.
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