Dominant Delhi Capitals dismantle MI to rise to the top spot

Delhi Capitals climbed to the top of the WPL 2025 standings, swapping places with Mumbai Indians, who they crushed by nine wickets at the M. Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bengaluru. The victory, the Capitals' second over the inaugural champions in this season, was set up by an excellent bowling performance led by Jess Jonassen's sixth three-fer in WPL history.

Mumbai Indians were restricted to a paltry 123 before a blazing 85-run opening partnership between Meg Lanning (60* off 49) and Shafali (43 off 28) added a touch of inevitability to the final result. The Capitals won with 33 balls to spare, giving a significant fillip to their Net Run Rate.

The match began on a familiarly good batting surface, with Yastika Bhatia and Hayley Matthews getting Mumbai off to a solid start. However, Shikha Pandey produced a maiden wicket, prizing out the out-of-form Bhatia, who managed only 11 in a of 35. Annabel Sutherland dismissed Matthews in the very next over, dealing a double blow to Mumbai.

Harmanpreet Kaur began with a streaky edged four off Titas Sadhu but managed to put Mumbai's innings back on track in the company of Nat Sciver-Brunt. However, Jess Jonassen returned to the attack, altering the very course of the game. She dismissed Harmanpreet with an arm ball and then bowled a flighted delivery that dipped on Sciver-Brunt, who chipped it back to the bowler for a simple catch.

Mumbai Indians couldn't recover from that double set back and succumbed to an excellent spell from Minnu Mani, who dismissed S Sajana and Amelia Kerr in a single over. The total was never going to be enough to test Delhi, and the openers produced to wipe out any trace of an asterisk that might have remained at the half-way mark.

Lanning got going with a brace of boundaries in the first over off Shabnim Ismail. Verma then tore into Sciver-Brunt in the third over, pulling an emphatic six before adding a brace of fours in a 16-run over. By the end of the PowerPlay, Delhi had 57 on the board with the Lanning-Verma pair registering its 11th 50-run stand (the most).

Verma raced ahead in the stand, slamming two more sixes in a Kerr over before finally falling in the 10th over to Amanjot Kaur. From thereon, it was a stroll in the park for the Capitals and their captain ensured it remained so by completing her eighth half-century in the tournament and remaining unbeaten while taking the team over the line.

**Brief scores:**Mumbai Indians 123/9 in 20 overs (Harmanpreet Kaur 22; Jess Jonassen 3-25, Minnu Mani 3-17) lost to Delhi Capitals 124/1 in 14.3 overs (Meg Lanning 60*, Shafali Verma 43; Amanjot Kaur 1-12) by nine wickets