WPL 2025: This was our best performance of the tournament so far, says Lanning
After Delhi Capitals held their nerve to register a seven-wicket win over UP Warriorz in WPL 2025, skipper Meg Lanning said this was undoubtedly their best performance in the ongoing competition so far.
After keeping UPW to 166/7, captain Meg Lanning set the foundation for the chase with 69. But after she fell, DC needed 32 runs off the last three overs. The experienced Marizanne Kapp (29 not out) and Annabel Sutherland (41 not out) stepped up to complete the chase in the last over to ensure DC signed off from WPL 2025 Vadodara leg on a high.
"Happy to be on the right side. Much better out there tonight. I felt I was positive from the first ball. Got my footwork going. We had some world-class players out there (in the closing stages of the chase). I thought we were on for 200 after the first six overs! We pulled it back really nicely. Taking wickets is really important. There's always areas to improve, but I feel this was our best performance of the tournament so far," said Meg after the match ended.
Talking about her unbroken partnership of 48 with Annabel, Marizanne said, “To be honest, we didn't speak a lot, lucky to have got past the line. They have quality spinners, just the way Annabel supported me. It was a tough task, but luckily it came off well today.”
Marizanne admitted she hasn’t been pleased with her bowling returns, but at the same time, she felt Meg needed the fifty hit in the chase to get her usual groove back. “The pace hasn't been great (so far this season), I've relied a lot on my pace, but luckily it came up well today in the last few overs but as an all-rounder I can play a role across the game. Lanning probably needed this innings, great to see her back amongst the runs. We just need to keep playing better in every game and get a few more points on the board.”
Annabel, who took the Player of the Match award for her all-round performance of 41 not out and 2-26, said it was nice to get a win, and contribute in it with both of her skills.
“We did well to pull back in the bowling innings. Just reading the conditions... trying to use the longer boundary. Meg was going pretty well, then Kappy came in and was hitting the ball pretty well. I just try to find out what's working as early as possible. It's tough for bowlers at times. Sometimes it's your day, sometimes it's not.
"We lost back-to-back wickets, otherwise the total could have been different. We trusted ourselves as bowling unit. We pulled it back after the powerplay. Only if we'd taken the catches; it's part of the game, though. The result could have been different (had we taken them). The team is doing well. Even today, 166 was a good total. We want to play good cricket as a team," she said.
The result also means that UPW sign off from Vadodara as the only winless team, especially after sloppy fielding and a middle overs slide cost them the game against DC, something which captain Deepti Sharma duly noted.
