All-round DC thrash MI by 9 wickets to claim top spot in WPL
Bengaluru, Feb 28 (PTI): Delhi Capitals dished out an all-round effort to comfortably beat former champions Mumbai Indians by nine wickets and jump to the top of the table in the Women's Premier League here on Friday.
Asked to bowl, DC first restricted inaugural edition's winner MI to 123 for nine, riding on Jess Jonassen's fine effort with the ball.
Jonassen returned with impressive figures of 3 for 25 from her four overs to break the backbone of DC with the crucial wickets of in-form Nat Sciver-Brunt, skipper Harmanpreet Kaur and G Kamalini.
Chasing the modest target, skipper Meg Lanning (60 not out off 49) and Shafali Verma (43 off 28) shared 85 runs off just 59 balls to hand DC a great start.
Shafali was going great guns but was dismissed in the process, trying to hit right-arm pacer Amanjot Kaur over deep midwicket. She failed to get the elevation, resulting in a straightforward catch for Amelia Kerr near the boundary.
But by then Shafali and Lanning had virtually sealed the match in DC's favour with their attacking batting.
Shafali 28-ball knock consisted four boundaries and two sixes.
Lanning, who was struggling for runs, finally came to the party with classy unbeaten knock that was laced with nine boundaries.
Jemimah Rodrigues remained unbeaten 15 off 10 balls as DC chased down the target with 33 balls to spare.
Earlier opting to bat, DC had a decent start before losing both their openers Yastika Bhatia (11) and Hayley Matthews (22) in quick succession.
In-form Sciver-Brunt continued her fine form and together with skipper Harmanpreet Kaur (18) shared 38 runs for the third wicket before the latter was dismissed LBW by Jonassen in the 11th over.
Sciver-Brunt, however, gave simple return catch to Jonassen to get out in the 14th over.
Sajeevan Sajana then did not help her to team's cause, ballooning a simple catch to DC skipper Meg Lanning off the bowling of Minnu Mani at extra cover while going for an extravagant shot over the leg side.
It was raining wickets as G Kamalini too failed to come to her side's rescue after being cleaned up by Jonassen in the 18th over with MI struggling at 104 for 7 in 17.5 overs.
Towards the end, it was struggle for MI with no set batter in hand but they somehow managed to get past the 120-run mark without being bowled out.
The win enabled DC to jump to the top of the WPL standings with eight points from six matches, while MI slipped a place to the second spot with six points from five games.
DC will take on Royal Challengers Bengaluru in their next match here on Saturday, while MI will be up against UP Warriorz on March 6 in Lucknow.
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Ikkis box office Day 1: Agastya Nanda’s war drama earns ₹7 crore, beats trade projections
Mumbai: Ikkis, the latest war drama directed by Sriram Raghavan, has delivered a stronger-than-expected opening at the box office, earning an estimated ₹7 crore net in India on its first day, Hindustan Times reported on Friday.
The film, starring Agastya Nanda, opened in theatres on January 1 across nearly 4,000 screens nationwide. Trade analysts had earlier projected a modest opening of ₹2–2.5 crore, especially given stiff competition from Dhurandhar, which continues to perform strongly at the box office.
Despite these expectations, Ikkis exceeded projections by nearly three times, helped largely by positive word of mouth. As per the report, the film had around 12% occupancy in the morning shows across the country, which jumped to 35% by afternoon, and 47% in the evening, indicating growing audience interest as the day progressed.
While Dhurandhar dominated the day with a reported ₹15 crore collection, trade observers note that Ikkis holding its ground amid such competition is a promising sign, particularly for its performance over the extended opening weekend.
Ikkis is based on the life of Arun Khetarpal, the youngest recipient of India’s highest gallantry award, the Param Vir Chakra. The film chronicles Khetarpal’s exploits and bravery during the 1971 India-Pakistan War. Agastya plays Khetarpal in the film.
While screen legend Dharmendra appears as his father in his final performance, Dharmendra died a little over a month before the film’s release. Ikkis is also among the final films of the late Asrani, who also died late last year. The film also stars Jaideep Ahlawat and Deepak Dobriyal.
