WPL: Delhi Capitals prevail in a thriller against Mumbai Indians – Talking points

Delhi Capitals edged out Mumbai Indians in a last-ball thriller in the 2025 Women's Premier League at the Kotambi Stadium in Vadodara on Saturday.

The Capitals women won by two wickets in what was a splendid cricket match, going down to the wire.

Both matches of the 2025 WPL so far have been a treat to the fans, and there are still 20 more matches left.

Mumbai Indians set a stiff target

Putting the Mumbai Indians into bat, Delhi Capitals came out on top early on, taking two quick wickets inside the powerplay.

Nat Sciver-Brunt, partnering up with Harmanpreet Kaur, steered the ship steady and batted brilliantly, taking Mumbai Indians to a competitive total of 164.

Sciver-Brunt finished the innings with an unbeaten 80 (59 balls, 13x4s), while Kaur took the bowlers to the cleaners with a blistering 42 (22b, 4x4s, 3x6s).

Annabel Sutherland was the pick of the bowlers for DC with up three wickets. Shikha Pandey was brilliant with the ball as well, finishing with 2-14 in her quota of four overs.

Shafali comes out all guns blazing

Delhi got off to a superb start, scoring at almost 10 runs per over inside the powerplay, thanks to their explosive opening pair of Meg Lanning and Shafali Verma.

Verma was the first to fall, getting out for 43 off just 18 balls, at a strike rate of 238.

Lanning struggled to put bat on ball and was eventually dismissed for 15 from 19, a sluggish innings from the DC skipper.

Niki's calmness prevails

Wickets kept tumbling at regular intervals but Niki Prasad, who captained the India U19 side to a T20 World Cup victory last month, came to the rescue.

She was steady as a rock in her knock, playing measured cricket, and took the game deep, with a useful contribution from Sarah Bryce, who made 21 from just 10 balls.

Last over drama

Needing 16 from seven balls, Radha Yadav smoked the last ball of the penultimate over for a six, and in the first ball of the final over, Niki hit a boundary, bringing the equation down to six from five balls.

Niki and Radha scored four runs from the next three balls and with two needed from two, Sajana Sajeevan struck. Tasked with bowling the final over she scalped Niki's wicket.

Needing two from one ball, Arundhati Reddy walked in. She managed to pack a decent punch on her lofted extra cover drive then just about managed to get into the crease before MI could effect a run-out.

The replays showed that Reddy was saved by a whisker, one frame, with a tiny portion of the bat just crossing the line as the bails come off, giving DC the victory.

Run-out controversy towards the end

The game will not just be remembered for its cricket but also for its umpiring as a controversy erupted surrounding Radha Yadav's runout chance in the penultimate over.

Radha and Niki were caught in the middle after Radha's attempted single towards backward point, and the replays show Radha's bat, while over the line, was in the air when the bails came off.

But the third umpire deemed that there was some part of the bat that touched the ground and therefore declared it not out, much to the surprise of many in the stadium and around the country watching the match.

What next for both teams?

Delhi will play Royal Challengers Bengaluru on 17th February, while Mumbai will be up against Gujarat Giants on 18th February.