Mumbai Indians Women pacer Shabnim Ismail shook the stumps of Delhi Capitals Women opener Shafali Verma to claim the first wicket of the second season of the Women’s Premier League (WPL 2024).
The Women’s Premier League 2024 began on Friday, February 23 at the M Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bengaluru. Shah Rukh Khan set the stage on fire with an electrifying performance at the opening ceremony along with Sidharth Malhotra, Tiger Shroff, Varun Dhawan and Shahid Kapoor.
After the grand ceremony, the action began and defending champions Mumbai Indians Women won the toss and elected to play first. The Mumbai Indians bowlers did a fantastic job in the match and did not allow the star opening duo of Shafali Verma and Meg Lanning to play quick innings.
Verma was under pressure as he could not hit the ball towards boundaries and ended up losing his wicket on the first ball of the third over, which was bowled by Shabnim Ismail.
The veteran bowler bowled a long delivery that tilted towards the middle stump and clipped inside the seam. Shafali cleared his front leg and went for a wild effort only to see his stumps shattered. Shafali Verma was forced to return to the hut after scoring 1 run off 8 deliveries. At the end of the third over, Delhi Capitals were under tremendous pressure and were at 6/1.
Watch: Shabnim Ismail claims first WPL 2024 wicket
CASTLE! 🎯
Shabnim Ismail with a spectacular delivery to claim the first wicket of season 2 🔥🔥#TATAWPL | #MIvDC | @mipaltan pic.twitter.com/H7TBL0Klre
— Women’s Premier League (WPL) (@wplt20) February 23, 2024
After Verma’s first wicket, the onus fell on captain and legendary batsman Meg Lanning to lead her team to a big score. So far, the DC-W captain has done an incredible job and is batting very well alongside youngster Alice Capsey, who was also very impressive with the bat in the inaugural edition of the Women’s Premier League (WPL).
Earlier, while speaking at the toss, Meg Lanning stated that the pitch was great to hit. She further said that they have prepared very well for the competition and are looking forward to the challenge.
While talking about Mumbai Indians women, the DC captain stated that they are a good team and their captain Harmanpreet Kaur is a good competitor.
“It looks like a good terrain, with a lot of races. Mumbai are a good team and are looking forward to the challenge. I’m really looking forward to this tournament. The preparation has been good, the squad is well formed, we just need to play with freedom. We are going with four seamers and three spinners, some good options throughout the innings. “She (Harmanpreet) is a competitor and is looking forward to this game.”
Mumbai Indian Women (Playing XI): Hayley Matthews, Nat Sciver-Brunt, Harmanpreet Kaur(c), Yastika Bhatia(w), Amelia Kerr, Amanjot Kaur, S Sajana, Pooja Vastrakar, Shabnim Ismail, Keerthana Balakrishnan, Saika Ishaque
Delhi Capitals Women (Playing XI): Shafali Verma, Meg Lanning(c), Alice Capsey, Jemimah Rodrigues, Marizanne Kapp, Annabel Sutherland, Arundhati Reddy, Minnu Mani, Taniya Bhatia(w), Radha Yadav, Shikha Pandey
At the time of writing, Delhi Capitals Women were at 64/1 in 9.2 overs with Meg Lanning and Alice Capsey strong against Mumbai Ind.ians women.
